Discovered
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: As Euphemia and Cornelia embraced Nunnally within their arms, Lelouch quickly realised that things were quickly going to change. With his secret out of the bag, can he maintain the Black Knights from the shadow of his elder sister?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: We do not own Code Geass**

**...**

"It's been a while since we spent time like this," said Cornelia as she lay on her back, the rays of sunlight streaming through her hair as her head rested upon her sister's knees. It was rare to have some time alone with Euphemia, having the burden to look after an occupied area with revolts constantly putting pressure on the economy. "There have been a lot of unexpected events since we came to Area Eleven." Lifting her hands up, she gently squeezed her sister's sides causing the princess to squeal childishly. "Haven't you put on weight from doing desk work?"

"Geez, Cornelia," whined Euphemia, the pink haired princess turning her attention to the garden that surrounded them. "Don't you think this garden resembles it? Queen Marianne's imperial villa?" These words forced Cornelia's features to harden slightly as she looked over her shoulder at the trimmed garden that she and her sister sat in.

"Since you mentioned it," said Cornelia analysing the area around her.

"Suzaku also took me to another rooftop garden recently," said Euphie which somewhat irked her sister's concentration. She didn't particularly like Euphie hanging around with an honorary Britannian but she didn't voice her opinion against it. Euphie was a much more forgiving sole than she was, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"Really, where was this?" asked Cornelia.

"At the school that Suzaku goes to, don't worry we went on the weekend so nobody would see me. It's not complete yet but I've seen the plans, they are identical to the Queen Marianne's garden, but only a certain spot." Cornelia rolled over to look at her sister as Euphie continued. "It's the spot where you, Nunnally, Lelouch and I used to play while Queen Marianne watched over us, the spot where Nunnally and I would argue about who got to marry Lelouch. You and her majesty would laugh at the way that Lelouch would blush and run off so he wouldn't give an answer."

"I remember," said Cornelia wearing a brief smile. "What point are you getting at?"

"The plans were written out by the Vice President of the school council, a teenager about my age," said Euphie at which point Cornelia's eyes widened in shock.

"Who was it?"

"It was made by a boy called Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Lelouch," repeated Cornelia trying to prevent herself from quivering. The fact that there was a possibility that her brother was alive almost felt like a stake was being driven through her heart. If it was true, then why hadn't they been heard of until now? Why hadn't a full scaled rescue mission been deployed in order to find the young prince and princess after the takeover of the area? "What of Nunnally?"

Euphemia's face twisted into one of sadness and Cornelia quickly realised that her sister had not been bold enough to ask the critical questions. A phone ringing quickly brought the two sisters back to the awareness of the world. Picking up her phone, Cornelia answered it not bothering to look at who was calling. "What is it?" she asked in a tone not befitting a princess.

"Ah Princess Cornelia, it is an honour to talk to you in person," replied the voice down the line.

"I ask you again, what is this call about?" said Cornelia trying to sound professional.

"We were calling on behalf of the museum wondering if Princess Euphemia would be available to choose a winning painting for the beginning of Arts Week set up by Prince Clovis," explained the man.

"No," replied Cornelia.

"But...but, but... is this not what Prince Clovis would want?"

"Tomorrow there is something much more urgent to attend to that I am certain our brother would appreciate a lot more than a winner for his arts show," replied Cornelia before disconnecting the call, not giving the man a chance to respond.

"Sister..." said Euphie in a soft voice as Cornelia was ringing another person.

"Darlton," she said down the line.

"Yes your highness, what do you need?" replied the knight.

"What does my schedule consist of tomorrow?"

"At the moment there is the execution of Tohdoh the Miracle worker alongside any possible threats that may come afterwards," replied Darlton.

"For any violence that comes around I want you and Guilford to handle it, as for the execution of Tohdoh have it postponed," she commanded.

"Postponed?" relied the confused voice.

"Postponed, because by the time the newspapers come in two days time there will be much more important news than the execution of a single eleven."

...

Lelouch sat upon a single stool as the class looked up at him, his mind replaying the newfound facts of the previous day's encounter with Mao and the relevant information about Suzaku he had learnt from it. The thought that a ten year old boy would go and kill his father in an attempt to end the war was something unheard of yet the son of the Japanese Prime Minister had done just that. His head tilted slightly to look at the honorary Britannian, something which was quickly picked up.

"Lelouch, don't move your face," said one of Lelouch's friends in Rivalz. Lelouch quickly was reminded of where he was as he sat in the centre of the rest of his classmates as they sketched his body onto their drawing pads as part of Arts Week.

"Sorry," said Lelouch as he tried to get back into the same position only to be corrected in his posture, his face now smiling at the women in a way which melted some of their hearts.

"The emotional look was better," said one of the students.

"Would it help if I took his shirt off?" suggested Rivalz which saw several random objects thrown at the blue haired teenager who was retreating to a corner of the room. As the barrage of objects ended he lifted his head to look outside just to see an entourage walking through the front gate. "Is that..."

"Attention students, everybody is hereby required to attend an emergency assembly in the hall, all lessons are herby postponed until further notice," came a voice over the intercom, causing all of the students to look around confused.

"Is this a drill?" asked Nina considering she had only just gotten to class.

"That was the student president's voice," said Shirley as she put down her artwork as her classmates did the same. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was for no real reason."

"Still," said Kallen with her weak persona in play, "There'd have to be some reason."

"Well we'll find out shortly," said Suzaku smiling as he started heading out of the room, following everyone else. Lelouch however was looking on from where he sat, his mind calculating again. The only reason he could think of for the student president to do something like this is that something big had come up, what however was the real question.

The walk down the hallway was filled with the noise of boisterous attempts of people trying to reason why they had been called away from class but each one sounded more preposterous than the last. Upon reaching the assembly hall the sound was doubled but it was to be expected as Lelouch made his way to the centre of the back row where Suzaku had sat. "Any ideas?" asked the student council member as Lelouch sat down beside him.

"Not really, still it's the president so anything is to be expected," said Lelouch as he watched Nunnally roll in and get pushed to the front of the auditorium. As the last of the students were seated, Milly made her way to the front of the stage.

"Everybody, thank you for getting here so quickly," said Milly trying to contain her excitement. "Ashford Academy has just received some very important visitors and I thought it only best that everyone was gathered in a single area to see why they were here. Anyways, it is my pleasure to present to you her Majesties, the third and second princesses of Britannia, Euphemia and Cornelia vi Britannia!"

The students tried to contain their excitement as they quickly stood up and saluted as their VIP's made their way on stage. Lelouch froze in place, unable to move from his seat as Kallen cursed wishing she had sat on the side of the isle in order to rush the stage and assassinate either of the two members of royalty. It was strange however as the first thing all of the students' heard come from the two princesses was from Euphemia.

"Nunnally?" she said recognising the wheelchair bound girl, the princess rushing off the stage to embrace the former princess.

"Sister Euphie," replied Nunnally in shock which caused everything to pause momentarily.

"Sister?" shouted all of the students before a few select heads twisted to Lelouch to find him sitting with his head in his hands as he tried to find a way to quickly escape this fate.

"Nunnally, it's good to see you again," said Cornelia comfortingly as she knelt beside her two sisters who were still in one another's embrace.

"Cornelia, it's nice to hear your voice," said Nunnally smiling broadly.

"If possible, I would like to continue this conversation in a more private place, but first," said Cornelia standing upright. "Where are you Lelouch?"

There was a slow silence as Lelouch got to his feet as everyone seemed to shrink around him, looking up at the former crown prince as he stood looking down at his sister. "Lelouch is a prince?" said several people including Shirley and Kallen. The walk down the hall was only for a few seconds but it felt like hours as everyone's eyes focused on him as he walked to the front of the auditorium to stop in front of the crowned princess.

"Lelouch," said Euphie with tears in her eyes as she leapt at the teenager, knocking him off of his feet and onto the carpet beneath him, Cornelia smiling at her siblings as her sister openly cried. Milly watched from atop the stage cheerfully having known of the former Prince's background. However she, Suzaku and Lelouch all quickly realised that things were quickly going to change.

...

**Hope you enjoyed. Please review and Peace Out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Razamataz22 here, bringing you the second chapter of "Discovered." As a fun fact to know, I also wrote the first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Code Geass**

**...**

The rooftop garden, despite being in the middle of production, would likely never receive greater company than those standing on it now. Four of the crowned royalty of the empire stood unwavering as a gentle breeze floated through their hair. Nunnally wasn't able to see what was happening from her wheelchair but the silence followed by the comforting hold of Euphie told her everything she needed to know. Lelouch and Cornelia stood among the unplanted flowers and unplaced pavers. All entrances to the garden had been sealed off and Britannian soldiers stood along the base of the building as the students stared upwards in the hope that they may see something.

"Cornelia," said Lelouch informally addressing the second princess.

"Lelouch," replied Cornelia, doing her best to hide the emotion of seeing her brother again.

"Sister," said Euphie only to receive no response from the proclaimed 'Goddess of Victory.' Euphie quickly turned her attention to Lelouch in an attempt to have a better chance of breaking the tension that hung in the air. "Lelouch, after this do you want to go out to dinner with me?"

That did it as Lelouch turned to her in shock as she and Nunnally began to giggle uncontrollably, a smile even managed to grace itself across Cornelia's lips. He quickly managed to realise that the comment was a tension breaker and allowed himself to relax a little. "Sister, I would be glad to go to dinner with you but I am afraid I do not have the money to afford such a delicacy as you would be used to," he replied, causing Euphemia to gasp in shock at his response.

"Stop teasing her Lelouch," said Cornelia as her eyes focused on her younger brother. "Why is it that only after seven years after the war ended that we only now just realise you are alive?"

"Because we didn't want to be found," replied Lelouch with coldness in his voice. "Despite the emperor knowing that he had just sent us here as diplomatic pawns he still attacked the country not caring if we survived or not."

Cornelia quickly picked up the fact that Lelouch had referred to their father as the 'emperor' and the distaste in his voice clearly showed long suffered hatred. "Yet you still mingle with Britannian civilians every day," she said indicating the students that looked on from the ground.

"Unlike those back home, these students do not have blood on their hands," said Lelouch. "They come from Britannia only hearing of the successful takeover of countries to help build the empire but they know little about the sacrifices made on the battlefield. Very rarely is it that Britannia loses a battle, you yourself should know this more than anyone, but to have wallowed through the death and suffering afterwards is something different altogether."

Cornelia took this in, quickly realising that he was giving her the watered-down version as to not corrupt Nunnally and Euphie as it were. She knew of the suffering that she brought down upon those with both her Knightmare and the resultant falling from grace for the countries. Disease was created from the countless bodies that needed to be buried and the hurtful look in a child's eyes when they wept for their fallen parents, she knew all too well of this but always looked at it from a conquerors perspective. Now however as she begun to realise that even those she loved had gone through the same form as suffering as those considered inferior, it left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Lelouch, I don't know what you and Nunnally suffered here in area eleven, but remember that I am your sister and only want what's best for you," said Cornelia trying to establish some sort of family connection with her brother.

"Be that as it may, word is probably already over the area by now, within hours the whole world will know that we still exist," said Lelouch. "That in itself means that we are now the targets of both politics and rebel gangs, for those who revolt to know that royalty had been sitting within their grasp all this time will almost force them out into the open."

"You believe the Black Knights will come after you?" asked Cornelia knowing of the hazard that the Black Knights presented, having fought against them on several occasions.

"If one trusts what Zero says, he is the defender of the weak," said Lelouch indicating towards where Nunnally and Euphie were. "If he is a man of his work than we can safely say that Nunnally and to an extent Euphie are safe as they pose no threat compared to the likes of you. As for myself, I am an unknown factor at this point and thus they may want to be rid of me before I have the opportunity to cause unrest."

"You're not that kind of person Lelouch," said Euphemia genuinely from the sidelines.

"That doesn't mean that they know that," said Lelouch keeping his eyes on Cornelia who sighed realising that by doing what she believed right in her heart she may have ended up endangering them even further.

"Can you show me your dorm Lelouch, I wish to see where you lived," said Cornelia wanting to talk to Lelouch in private. The former prince nodded in understanding as the two made their way towards the door.

"What about us?" asked Euphie standing up while keeping her hand inside the comforting grip of Nunnally's palm.

"You don't think after seven years there aren't some things you wish to talk about?" said Lelouch cryptically as he opened the door, allowing him and Cornelia to step out of the sunlight and indoors. For the longest of whiles the two didn't make a sound to one another, their footsteps echoing through the stairwell. Lelouch contemplated using his Geass in an attempt to figure out everything that Cornelia knew about his mother's death however with the things proceeding as they were he would very likely learn that in time. As such, he opted to let things continue as they were without the use of his ocular power and save the use of it for another time and need. As they descended to the floor, they could hear the sounds of the excited crowd. While Lelouch didn't particularly want to walk past the people who had accepted him as simply the Student Vice President, he knew that being mobbed would be appropriate payback to his sister.

"We live on the other side of the compound," he informed her as he gripped the handles of the door before pushing them open. The soldiers stood little chance as students rushed forward as Lelouch smiled while Cornelia looked on in fear.

Kallen stood awkwardly from the sidelines as her fellow students rushed the princess. She knew she had the perfect opportunity to assassinate the princess but somehow she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew that Zero wanted Cornelia alive and in the middle of everything on she knew that she stood little chance of getting out of here in one piece let alone with the princess if she tried anything. Rather however, she couldn't do anything because of the sibling reunion, to see the look of happiness upon the princesses' faces when they met their long lost brother and sister tore at her soul. Memories of her own brother began to swell up within her and she wondered how she would react if given the chance to see him again, the thought forcing small tears into her eyes. As if snapping herself back into reality, she wiped the tears from her eyes and grabbed her phone out of her pocket, knowing that Zero would need to know about this immediately. The phone rang for several minutes but much to her frustration there wasn't an answer. Looking at the device annoyed, she opted to call Ohgi and tell him the information, knowing that that way the message would at least get out to the rest of the Black Knights.

Suzaku stood with his back to one of the pillars, his mind still uneasy about prior wounds being reopened only the previous day. His head tilted upwards to see the doors swing open wide only for Cornelia and Lelouch to be mobbed by a group of students. Part of him wanted to rush forward and help them, but since he knew that no real danger would come to them other than the occasional 'glomp' much like the one Euphie had given Lelouch he opted to sit this one out. If the need arose that he had to act in a way to defend their majesties, he would. Until that moment however he would casually sit on the sidelines.

Milly looked on with sad eyes from the second story room which played house to see Lelouch get attacked by a horde of female admirers and couldn't help but feel slightly upset about the whole charade. For years she and her family had been doing their best to hide Nunnally and Lelouch from the eyes of Britannia but now that they had been discovered she felt torn in two. Part of her wished to be happy that family was reunited, however she also knew of the trouble that this would cause for people she considered family. She tore her sight away from the scene outside and focused on the young woman who shared the room with her. Unlike her usual bright self, the orange haired Shirley seemed rather quiet about the whole thing. Mill believed that she shouldn't intervene with such things as Shirley had discovered a secret that her precious 'Lulu' had been hiding for so long. Little did Milly know that this was not the first secret for Shirley to learn about Lelouch that day, and that she was unsure whether the fact that Lelouch was royalty or the fact wore an infamous mask scared her more.

It took nearly twenty minutes for Cornelia and Lelouch to make it through the crowd of screaming teenagers, both managed to get through with only slight bruising of the skin. "I'm going to have those guards skinned," said Cornelia puffing heavily as she arced out her back, several vertebrae cracking as they did so.

"I don't think there was much that they could do," said Lelouch with his hands on his knees, panting heavily. "At least we didn't have the president try and make some sort of event of all of it."

"Should I be worried about this woman's personality?" asked Cornelia as she regained her composure.

"I'd be on the lookout," warned Lelouch as he managed to regain his breath, briefly checking his phone to see a missed call from Q-1 and quickly figured out what it was about.

"I didn't realise what the consequences of our actions might be," said Cornelia as she begun to spill her feelings now that she wasn't around her two younger sisters. "Just the thought of meeting both you and Nunnally again...it just drove me forward. I wasn't thinking straight."

"Having seen you again sister isn't the bad thing," said Lelouch as he looked the Britannian princess in the eye. "What I need to worry about is how the emperor is going to take this and whether or not Nunnally and I once again become pieces of the chess board for him to use. For all we know he could marry me off to the princess of Australia in an attempt to get the final neutral territory to side alongside him."

Cornelia couldn't help but scowl at the thought. For years Britannia had tried to launch a successful attempt to turn Australia into an area of Britannia but their coastal defence was too strong to be penetrated and for those rare few who made it onto shore they never survived long enough to make an impact. Thoughts began to process through Cornelia's mind however as she thought of the possibility of Lelouch leading an army to Australia, knowing of the strategic mind her brother had. There was always the possibility of Schniezel's Avalon flying over the top but even that had its limits, after all every defence was penetrable if the attackers searched hard enough. Shaking her head, she focused her attention back onto Lelouch. "Leaving that aside, I would like you to show me where you have been living these past years."

"Wait, you mean you weren't just saying that to talk to me privately?" asked Lelouch taking a small step away from Cornelia.

"That may have been one of the reasons, however I wish to see whether or not you have maintained the level of neatness and personal hygiene that was drilled into us as a child," said Cornelia as she began to walk down the corridor. Lelouch swallowed deeply as he followed, praying that two things would go his way. One would be the safe location of the infamous suit of Zero, the other he prayed that CC hadn't returned from where she had taken Mao's body. Lelouch knew that if either one of these two were discovered he would be in a great deal of trouble and he silently prayed to every God he could think of in the hope that at least one would provide with at least some good fortune for the day. It would not be however as the two members of royalty made entered the housing area of both Lelouch and Nunnally, only to find CC wearing the white Straightjacket Lelouch had discovered her in, a piece of pizza in her hand with her teeth clenched around the tip of her meal as she looked at the two of them curiously. Meanwhile, Lelouch only had a single thought running through his head at the predicament.

'_Shit!'_

...

**Hope you enjoyed. I'm not sure about the rest of my teammates but I enjoy responding to people's reviews if they have questions they wish to be answered. As such...**

**Undead3: I know the chapters go a bit quick but I have to adhere to the knowledge that other authors will write future chapters and I would rather see consistent 2000 word chapters then have it drop from a 5000 word chapter to a 2000 word chapter.**

**Ai-no-tsubasa: I can't guarantee that this story will ever be finished... but we can do our damn best to try and do so!**

**Jarjaxle: It is an idea that is used often, it's just the spin that we put on it that makes it interesting.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Gohan–to-the-max here bringing you the third chapter of discovered, writing this after coming out of a kind of long hiatus so I might be a little rusty but luckily I have the help of TDS to whip me back into shape. Thank you to Devilsdocry for reading through, TDS is going to miss you. Anyway enough of me babbling and let's get on with it**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Code Geass**

**...**

'_Shit!'_

Immediately his eyes moved from the girl sitting on his bed to the face of his older sister. Her mouth dropped slightly as she let of a small gasp, her eyes widened in recognition. Thoughts ran through Lelouch's strategic mind explaining why Cornelia's face was the way it was, within a few seconds he came up with an answer which was likely to be true. Was she in on the code R project?

Cornelia unfroze from her current state; she stepped forward only a few steps as C.C looked down to continue eating the slice of pizza as though there was no one was there. To her, all that mattered was depleting the pizza, Lelouch and his guest could wait a few moments longer. They were the ones who walked in on her and after her day she deserved this pizza without interruptions.

"It's you..." Cornelia gasped whilst the immortal girl looked up. She stared at the princess for a few seconds before she returned to the slice of pizza, all she did in response to Cornelia was grunt. "You're the girl from the villa,"

Again the immortal girl's eyes looked up to the Princess, this time she studied her face carefully before she looked back down at the pizza once again, carefully she took a bite and chewed. Meanwhile Lelouch let of a silent sigh of relief, Cornelia was not a part of the code R project meaning that he was able to say that she was someone else within his life, perhaps maybe a guardian? Or a friend? It then meant that she didn't know what C.C was or what she could possibly do. However the fact that Cornelia recognised her was a problem on its own.

"Cornelia," C.C grunted as she stood up from her position on the bed, not bothering to address her as a Princess. Her eyes continued to look at the Princess as she released what Lelouch thought to be a small smile. "You look much older now,"

"You've not changed at all; tell me, how old are you now if you were one of Lady Marianne's friends?"

The green haired girl grunted again, whilst Lelouch watched carefully, waiting for the right moment to intervene. "Weren't you ever taught that it is rude to ask one of their age?" She drearily replied. "Besides shouldn't you be of somewhere killing innocent people and taking over the world?"

"Perhaps," The princess retorted as she attempted to stare C.C down, the prince stepped forward feeling slight tension between the two women. "I was assigned to area eleven to take control and in my opinion I've done a better job then what Clovis did for only two reasons,"

"Which are?" The green haired girl pressed as she began walking around the room, her eyes kept on the princess though a relaxed look was upon her face.

"First one is simple, in all the time that Clovis was here, Lelouch and Nunnally were living on his door step. He came here to search for those two and in the process he got distracted by the power and fame. Me however, I discovered them both rather quickly and I also find one of my suspects for Lady Marianne's killer,"

C.C scowled towards the princess, the thought of her killing her angered her, if anything she saved the fallen empress yet she couldn't tell the princess this.

"You know full well that I was escorted from the premise with her guards, I'm afraid that you will have to dig deeper and perhaps closer to home," The immortal snapped back as Lelouch eagerly listened to the two, hoping that something beneficial could be said regarding his mother's death. That was all he cared about; perhaps he wouldn't have to use geass on her if she was getting in a heated discussion with C.C.

**...**

Shirley sat down on the cold concrete floor, the grounds surrounding Lelouch's housing was packed full of students. Each eager to get an audience with the members of the royal family currently visiting the school, she sighed as her arms began to shake. She needed to speak to Lelouch and she needed to speak to him now so she could know if the note was true. Could her 'Lulu' really be Zero?

She was scared, if he could kill his own brother, then what would he do to anyone else that were close to him? She remembered the rants Prince Clovis used to make on his dead younger brother and sister and from the sound of it, they were as close as two brothers could get. The clues and hints that he was royalty was obvious now she thought about it, how many people were called Lelouch and Nunnally and were the same age as the presumed dead prince and princess? None, there would be no one around and how couldn't she guess from Nunnally being both blind and crippled. Then there was the way he talked, the way he thought and how strategic he was at chess. All signs of the upbringing of a member of the royal family.

What about Milly? She didn't act the least bit surprised when Lulu was discovered... Did she already know? She thought of how it could explain everything from being extremely close with each other, to how the Ashford family basically gave the two royals a separate room away from everyone else. It was always more than Nunnally's condition; it was for the privacy and protection of the two royal children. Her heart felt as though it was torn in two, she wanted to be happy for Lelouch but at the same time, all of his lies scared her.

If he was Lelouch Vi Britannia as well as being Zero, then she feared for him being in danger. He was a traitor to his own family, killing of his older brother yet he managed to parade around so peacefully even in meeting his two sisters once more. If he was ever discovered as being zero, she could lose him. She couldn't ever part with her Lulu, not now she knew one of his biggest secrets of all times. Her hands were shaking as she lifted up her head, Milly Ashford was standing in front of her with her eyes looking down to the girl. She needed to know what she knew, she wanted to be more trusted by Lelouch but could that be possible? Does Milly know about him being zero as well as knowing that he was a prince?

"Are you sure about this Shirley?" The student president asked whilst the girl waited for the prince to return from his living area. The ginger haired girl lifted her head up; softly she nodded it as Milly out stretched her hands. A look of sadness stretched along both the girls faces. "Well come on then Shirley, we are members of the student council so we can enter the building at will. If not we can return back to the other room,"

"No Madame President," Shirley whispered, she stood up and looked Milly directly into her eyes. She needed to know if she knew; if she was trusted by her Lulu. "Did you know?"

Milly sighed as she turned around, her gentle lips separated. Both girls began to walk forwards as they escaped the large crowd of students. Shirley's ginger hair blew softly back in the wind as the two girls went down the secret entrance to the club house. This way they were able to get around the hoards of pupils desperate to touch and see the royalty within their school which then allowed them to get to the prince quicker.

"Yes, I knew. It was my family Lelouch contacted and pleaded for shelter and protection. Originally my grandfather's original plan was to return them to the kingdom but he didn't like the look of despair on Lelouch's face. He feared returning, he didn't want the same fate as his mother so we kept him as a secret,"

"Why didn't he tell me?" Shirley cried. "Lulu told me everything, I thought he might have liked me but he still keeps secrets from me,"

The student president sighed once again as she pushed her blond hair back, her sad expression spread throughout her face. "Lelouch doesn't trust anyone; he was forced to trust my family and so far we kept his trust though he won't be too happy with us as he was discovered at our school and anyway you both recently fell out and played the strangers game with him which I thought was so cute by the way, "

Shirley just nodded her head as she continued to follow behind Milly, she hardly ever used this tunnel, and it was more Rivalz and Lulu. In her head she kept trying to piece everything over the last few days together. The door leading the passage to the clubhouse was wide opened as both girls continued to walk on, there goal was to get to Lelouch to make sure everything was okay.

Meanwhile upstairs in his bedroom, Cornelia continued to stare C.C down. Still she was confused to why the green haired friend of Lady Marianne was in her younger brother's bedroom dressed in that attire. Was she here to help look after him or for different motives? Was her younger brother closer to her father then she lead onto to believing? The girl picked up another slice of pizza and took a large bite into it as she threw her body back onto the boys bed.

"What is going to happen to Lelouch now?" The lady in the straightjacket asked. "Is he to return to the empire?"

"It will be the best for Britannia if he does return, will also be my father's wishes. Area eleven is dangerous for both him and Nunnally because Zero has yet to be caught," C.C let of a loud chuckle whilst the hidden prince shot her a threatening look, he couldn't have her ruin the plan before it fell within motion. The prince let of a sigh, knowing that he would have to be forced back to the homeland. The thought of what was to happen to the resistance flew throughout his mind, who would he leave in charge and how would he communicate?

Once again he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, immediately knowing that it was Kallen trying to reach zero. He ignored it and continued to stare at C.C, hoping she wouldn't give anything away. Behind him he felt the presence of two others as they knocked against the door, knowing who they were he sharply turned round to be greeted by both Shirley and Milly.

Meanwhile outside the living area of Lelouch and Nunnally; Kallen slammed her phone into her pocket in frustration. Here she was with the opportunity to capture and perhaps kill some members of the royal family and for once her leader wouldn't pick up his god damn mobile phone. She managed to get through to Ohgi and all he told her was to try Zero again as well as telling her not to do anything reckless that could get her killed.

Shirley stared slightly opened mouth; the fact that there was a strange girl on his bed startled her. Who was she and what was she doing with Lelouch and the Princess? She stepped forward but felt Milly grab her hand. How was she meant to confront him now? Especially as some woman was sitting in his bed who happened to be dressed up as a prisoner. Tears welled in her eyes, he couldn't be taken, and not her Lulu but this girl was evidence. Why else would she be dressed as a prisoner if she wasn't his mistress?

"Lulu... who...is...that?"

**...**

**Okay well that's it people. I apologise if I've messed up the story, I just can't remember if Shirley and C.C have met before and in case they have sorry people just the story works out better this way. I will try to answer some of your questions about the previous chapter to the best of my ability so umm here it goes.**

Yuriski-1st – ahah yeah but on the day that the events occurred, Shirley did discover her note and I think what happened is that she discovered it between the first chapter till when she is introduced into the second. Well that's my take on the work done by Razamatazz22. I know it happened earlier then in canon but it was necessary for her to discover it earlier.

FallenAngelitz and XIIIth Antagonist – Thank you for pointing out that the characters are out of character. Hopefully as the story progress we get them back into character,

Ai-no-tsubasa - I read your review after writing this chapter and now I feel like a fool for not reading it before. I so should have had C.C suggest she is doing inappropriate things with Lelouch but ahh well that could be suggested in the next chapter in front of poor confused Shirley.

**Well anyway it was nice receiving all of your reviews, thank you everyone. If you have any questions feel free to ask them and until next time. Please review and it was nice being your Code Geass writer XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there, this is 'Wonder from down Under' bringing you the latest chapter of Discovered. This is my first chapter writing for a collaborative story so I hope I do okay.**

**Disclaimer: TDS does not own Code Geass**

Euphemia looked from across the rooftop garden as a number of small birds crowded around a small puddle, playfully dipping in and out of the water source to keep themselves cool in the midday sun. Thankfully up here she didn't have to worry about the paparazzi taking photos of her lying down on the patch of grass with Nunnally by her side, the young blind girl having abandoned her chair to be resting by her half sister's side, with Euphie's help of course. "Do you know what will happen to brother and I?" asked Nunnally reaching for where she believed Euphie's hand may be. The princess could see her sister patting random areas of the ground and gently grabbed her hand with her own.

"I believe that's what our brother and sister are discussing right now," said Euphie, smiling despite knowing Nunnally couldn't see it.

"Will we be sent back home?" asked Nunnally.

"It's a possibility, I wish you could see the villa once again, it's about the time of the year when all of the flowers begin to bloom, the grass is decorated with a number of coloured petals," said Euphie trying to be As descriptive as possible.

"I'd like to see it, but more so I'd like to see how you've grown sister," said Nunnally.

"If you believe, then maybe one day you will see again," said Euphie trying to be positive. Nunnally didn't respond to that, rather taking in her sisters encouraging words. For so long she had lived in darkness, could it be possible that the only reason she couldn't see was because she didn't believe her eyes could open again. She knew that when she was young and soon after the accident she had tried to open her eyes on a number of occasions, but it was as if an invisible force had prevented her from being able to see. Of course all of the adults and doctors around her had explained that her mind had been traumatized by her mother's death and that as such it wouldn't allow her to see, yet that was a long time ago. She would love to see again, see the smiling face of Euphie, see the school she had attended for so long but most of all she would like to see her brother's face. Her mind's eye began to paint a picture in her thoughts of Lelouch as a child and what he could have possibly turned into. Her eyelids began to quiver slightly, a small notion that got Euphemia's undivided attention.

...

For one Lelouch Lamperouge, very soon to be known as the lost prince of the Britannian Empire to society once again, he was contemplating whether or not jumping out of the window and crashing to the ground below would be a better scenario then the one he was currently in. In front of him, standing in the doorway was two of the students he had gotten to know over the years, one of whom was Milly Ashford, the student body president and his protector for so many years. He owed the Ashford family a lot for what they had done for him and Nunnally for so many years, however as Milly had grown up the childish fun they had had when they were kids had transpired into the school ground and even now he found himself at her mercy. The question now though remained as to what purpose she had being here at this time.

Beside her was Shirley, the orange haired girl who had recently been traumatized by the fact that her love had killed her father to the point where she was willing to shoot him and her in a sad Romeo and Juliet like suicide. The whole situation with Mao had almost spiralled out of control and if what the other Geass user had said was true then Shirley had even fired at a witness to cover his secret. He had erased her memory with his Geass but from the look upon her face it was clear that something wasn't right and immediately the fear that she had once again learnt the truth rose but he had no proof that such a thing had happened and thus was simply making up excuses. Yet the way he looked at him, it was one he was unfamiliar with considering how cheerful the girl usually was.

By his side was the Princess of Britannia, possibly the most dangerous one in the room. Yet she had a connection with the green haired witch sitting behind him. So much had happened within such a small time frame that it would be difficult to deduce how either of them would react. He could tell that the whole situation surrounding Mao had shaken up CC to an exponential figure, yet Cornelia had suffered a similar thing with the past coming back as if to seemingly haunt her. Amongst them Lelouch knew that the most commanding personality was Cornelia, and with that she would be the first one to make a move on this restarted game. While Shirley had made a false start, he knew that Cornelia would not be intimidated.

"Who are you and why have you come here?" demanded the princess, staring at the two students who had interrupted the conversation.

"Your highness," said Milly with a small bow, having been taught from a young age how to talk to people of a higher class. "I am Milly Ashford, a member of the family who has housed Lelouch and Nunnally and kept them safe for a number of years. My friend is Shirley Fenette, a member of the student council alongside Lelouch and I."

"Y-Your Highness," said Milly timidly bowing in respect.

"So," said Cornelia as her eyes sharpened to look at Milly, "It seems I must owe you a debt of gratitude for keeping my brother and sister safe all these years, yet also that means that you've been hiding royalty to the point where the nation was not even informed. I could understand the safety measures you would have had to keep care that his secret wasn't given to the general populace. But I must ask, why was no attempt to contact the royal family of my brother's safety was made?"

Shirley turned towards Milly, also wondering as to why the student president and her family had opted to take all of the weight of such knowledge upon only their shoulders. "Because I knew that Lelouch would be unhappy if I did," said Milly focusing her eyes on the sole male in the room. The atmosphere around the room suddenly shifted and Lelouch tried to keep track of all the different changes in posture and facial expressions. From behind him he heard a sigh of relief escape CC lips before the green haired woman lay down on the bed she was sitting on. He turned to look at her but stopped halfway when he saw Cornelia staring now at him and instantly he could tell the question that was on her lips. Yet she didn't ask it, partially because she knew a fraction of the answer...either that or she was waiting until they were once again alone to interrogate further, he couldn't truly tell.

"So Lelouch," said Shirley, addressing the rediscovered royalty. She still hadn't gotten back into the habit of calling him Lulu, at least face to face. She wasn't going to start now as a glare from Cornelia instantly got the message across. "I-I mean your majesty..."

"It's okay Shirley," said Lelouch. "Address me whatever way you feel makes you comfortable." This was a double ploy on his part and at least Cornelia picked it. The statement was aimed at Cornelia in a way that told her that Lelouch didn't like the idea of being treated differently to how he had been over the last few years. Not only that but it was also aimed at Shirley in the hope that she could start to open up around him again, sadly, it didn't work.

"L-Lelouch," said Shirley not saying her once patented 'Lulu,' "Who's that woman on your bed?"

"She was with my mother a long time ago, she has been in hiding with me for quite some time," said Lelouch, not so much lying but rather bending the truth to his favour. Shirley seemed to accept the answer but he could tell that Milly didn't buy it. She knew that Sayoko was centrally in charge of Lelouch and Nunnally's protection so why would there need to be another person in hiding and if Lelouch was hiding it from her, it almost felt like betrayal. Lelouch could tell he'd need to give Milly a much more detailed explanation but for now he couldn't spill too much about CC to Shirley. Thankfully, that would give him enough time to come up with a respectful story to tell Milly, although he had to be careful.

Lelouch turned to Cornelia, with so much on the line he knew that he needed to start bending things towards his favour. "Cornelia, do you know whether or not it would be possible for Nunnally and I to remain here to study?" he asked.

"That is not up for me to decide," said Cornelia. "We shall make contact with the media within a few minutes to tell them of your official life, but be warned that once news of your return reaches the homeland everything will change for you. This little home life you have made for you and Nunnally will cease to exist and while your education is important, it may be better for the Empire to see that you get the best education possible at the hands of a tutor."

Lelouch grumbled slightly, he needed to figure out some sort of plan in order to keep him in Area Eleven and unless he could come up with something it was likely that he and Nunnally would be saying goodbye to the former Japan. He was brought out of his stupor as Cornelia's hand slapped on top of his shoulder, gripping him lightly. "Come on, it's time we go face the press," she said knowing how much would change for the boy in such a small period of time but knew that it had to be done. Lelouch could only nod before Cornelia's eyes fell upon CC. "You're coming as well, put something decent on and let's go."

"What's wrong with my outfit?" asked CC sitting up, her comment was quickly retorted with confused looks in her direction. "Fine, I'll put something else on," she said as she started to strip.

"And we don't need to be here for this," said Milly grabbing Shirley by the shoulders and dragging her out of sight, a slight scream escaping the orange haired girl's lips.

"Don't you have any decency?" shouted Cornelia shielding Lelouch's eyes.

"Do you have any courtesy to leave the room to allow a woman to dress?" asked CC in kind which only seemed to aggravate Cornelia. Unable to form words, she merely pulled Lelouch out of the room, closing the door behind her before taking her hand off of Lelouch's face. Whipping out her phone, she quickly began to dial a number, already knowing who to call in order to get the media to set up just in front of where they would be standing once they left the building. A quick conversation took place and as she hung up CC stepped out of the room, wearing one of the many outfits that she had for going outside.

"Your turn," said Cornelia giving Lelouch a light push into the room.

"What's wrong with my uniform?" he asked as he regained his footing.

"You're about to be revealed to the rest of the world, this is your second chance at a first impression so put on the best clothes you have at your disposal," commanded Cornelia once again closing the door.

"Finally, somebody else who can keep Lelouch in order," said Milly who was standing on the side next to Shirley. "You might just want to keep him in check; I think he might be developing a gambling problem considering he goes out about three times a week."

"LELOUCH!" shouted Cornelia, barely preventing herself from barging into the room. From inside the prince had shivers run down his spine as he feared that later today he would be receiving a very stern lecture.

...

**I had fun writing this, I hope you had fun reading it. Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Discovered**_

_**TDS owns nothing. This chapter was brought to you by gohan-to-the-max and Razamataz22. Please feel free to review.**_

Both girls giggled as Cornelia impatiently stamped her feet as she paced back and forth in front of the door, her body seemingly on edge. Inside his bedroom, the chill still spread down the young prince's back as he removed his black school top. His hands moved over to a dark purple shirt which looked rather professional, if he was going to be introduced back to Brittania he figured he had to dress the part. The thought of making an appearance on camera in his most undignified clothing crossed his mind briefly however the aftermath that Cornelia would reign down upon him would not be worth it. It was time the once called Black prince returned; though it wasn't part of his plan he could easily figure out how to make this encounter benefit him.

The pace of Cornelia's tapping feet outside the room increased as her foot hit against the floor faster and louder then what it was previously. CC just stood there, a scowl appeared on her face as she waited in the Princess's company. All she wanted to do was return to the bed where she could order a large pizza once again and eat until she is about to pass out. The foot stamping was starting to do her head in; the green haired immortal couldn't take it anymore.

"Do you mind? Some people like peace." She coldly hissed towards the witch of Britannia. Milly and Shirley stood opened mouth at the girl, thinking how Lelouch's girl - or whatever she was - could speak to royalty like that. Not even Milly dared to say a word with her status as a noblewoman. Apparently Princess Cornelia felt the same, threateningly she took a few steps closer to the green haired immortal, her eyes kept on her closely and a scowl appeared across her face.

"You dare speak to me like that?" She hissed whilst CC stared at the Princess emotionally, looking straight through her. CC just grunted as she ignored the Princess. From the corner of her eyes she watched as Cornelia's face grew redder and redder from being spoken to in that tone. "This is no way to talk to a member of Britannia's royalty!"

"It's the way I speak to MY darling Lelouch, he seems to appreciate how and what I do to him," replied CC, a coy smile spreading across her lips.

"You're darling Lelouch?" Shirley repeated, her face dropped even more. Lulu had a girlfriend meaning that she never will get a chance, how can she compare to her? That girl was unique meanwhile she was just Shirley. Maybe all she needed to do was dye her hair green and maybe Lelouch could notice her like how he noticed the other woman. In Shirley's heart, she prayed that the green haired girl didn't know the secret that she did. If she didn't then Lelouch trusted her in some ways yet that doesn't explain how she managed to forget it all in the first place.

"Lelouch and I have a unique knowledge of each other's situations, he owes me a few favours you see." CC added with a wink whilst Shirley's face screwed up, jealousy leached of her face as her anger began to build up. Milly was attempting to hold back the laughter; she liked this girl even though she only knew her for a few minutes. The information she can get out of her on Lelouch was limitless, she could find out all personal stuff as this girl was basically his roommate.

The sound of creaking of the floorboards emerged as all the women stared at each other. It wasn't long until all of the women waiting threw their bodies around; they heard the sound of the bedroom door opening a few seconds back. They were each greeted with Lelouch standing in the doorway; a fake smile was upon his face as he stepped forwards. Immediately the purple haired princess' mouth opened wide, she stormed towards the boy until they were a few inches apart. Lelouch felt her hot angry breath on his body, knowing what was to come however it never did.

Instead of word's coming out of Cornelia's mouth, he heard the sound of a more low pitch voice coming from the door. "Princess Cornelia, the reporters have arrived." Darlton announced, the princess' head turned to face him; still she should inches apart from her younger brother.

"Right on time, make sure everything is in order for when we come down. We want this to be a quick process."

"Yes your highness."

Princess Cornelia's head turned back to Lelouch, a small heart warming smile leaked across her face. However he took in a deep breath, drops of sweat slithered down his face. "Brother, it's time for you and Nunnally to make a public appearance."

The royal siblings all began to leave the room, accompanied by CC and Milly. Shirley followed behind the blond haired beauty until they reached the top of the stairs where the ginger girl waited at the top as the members of royalty, CC and Milly continued to descend down the stairs. She looked at Lelouch as he continued to stroll forwards before she sighed and descended down the stairs, instead of following the royal party, she headed towards the student council room with slight tears in her eyes.

Cornelia was first to come to a halt, stopping as she turned to face her brother. "Euphemia and Nunnally will be here in a matter of seconds but both know that they are not to be seen by the public because Nunnally shall continue with her education. Rather, it will only be announced that she has been found alive and well and wishes to keep her identity a secret to continue her studies."

"So I'm being thrown into the wild just like that, I don't get the choice of remaining anonymous?" The black haired prince asked as Milly was first to leave the building, only to be reunited with her grandfather. Lelouch looked around, at the moment it was just him, CC and Cornelia meaning that he can prevent CC from becoming noticed by the people, especially those who previously worked with code R. It was then when Cornelia stared into her brothers eyes that she realised a strange shape appear in the boys left eye.

"Forget about having met CC today." The Prince ordered as his sister appeared mesmerized. She nodded her head as he kept the eye contact, passing a small recorder to the green haired girl as she began to make her way back to the Prince's room. The girl walked quickly, knowing that she had to send this message to the black knights whilst Lelouch was broadcasted throughout the Britannian Empire.

It was only when CC reached the top of the staircase and headed round the corner back to Lelouch's bedroom where Cornelia snapped out of her trance. Only seconds after she returned back to her normal self, did Euphemia and Nunnally entered through the back door of the clubhouse building, the pink haired princess pushing her sibling's wheelchair. Lelouch gulped, it was almost time for him to become a prince again, something which he never saw with his current occupation as the man going against the empire. Before his two younger sisters got closer, he pulled Cornelia a little bit closer to him.

"Do we have to do this?" Lelouch asked almost silently yet the elder Princess still heard the question. She nodded her head as she re-adjusted his shirt, making it look a bit neater then its current state.

"It's for the best Lelouch, it would be a matter of time before you will be discovered and being found by us prevents Zero from getting you and using you as a weapon to get at the empire. By now all of your fellow classmates likely know about this situation, it would only be a matter of hours before you are tracked down by the media as it is."

Lelouch sighed, what she didn't know was she was talking to 'Zero' and then it hit him. He had a plan for the Britannian Empire which could shock the very foundations of it if he was re-introduced. It was then when Lelouch smiled at his older sister.

"This is for the safety of me and Nunnally; this isn't us turning in to become political hostages once again."

The Princess nodded her head as the two younger siblings reached her and Lelouch where they all shared a short smile, yet the princess knew that her own smile was fake. She knew that within the grand scheme of things, there was always a possibility that their father would utilise them in order to gain alliances. Her thought pattern knew that the odds of Lelouch being sent back to the homeland was a distinct chance where he would be brought up to date with all the political and military policies which would help him govern an area. Nunnally however...

A few seconds later, the large double doors opened as both Lelouch and Cornelia stepped forwards, leaving Nunnally and Euphemia within the shadows of the clubhouse. As they continued to walk forward, Lelouch heard the sound of many people talking. For once he gulped; this was the beginning of the end.

CC sat on the large bed as she held the recording in her left hand, her other hand was Zero's personal mobile where she then chucked her body back. The television in the background showed the entrance to Ashford academy, she just had to choose the right moment to press the call button to get to the black knights. She watched from the corner of her eyes and she began to see two shadows come out from the darkness of the building, knowing that it was Lelouch and his elder sister. It was then when his face became visible that she through her body upwards once again. Finger hovering over the call button as she was ready to complete Lelouch's plan.

"Citizens of the Holy Britannian Empire!" Princess Cornelia roared as everyone in the audience froze from the sheer power of her voice. "Today is an important day for our history; it is a day of celebration for two royal siblings have been found alive. Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia and Princess Nunnally Vi Britannia survived the conquering of area eleven where others believed they were to be dead yet here they are, alive and well."

It was then when the green haired immortal hit the dial symbol, waiting for a black knight to gain the message. Meanwhile outside, Kallen kept on trying to get through to Zero until she suddenly realised that he was ringing her mobile. Quickly she answered as the familiar voice began to speak once again, all while she was looking exactly at Lelouch Vi Britannia. For a slight second, she could have sworn he smiled directly at her as she answered the call to Zero.

Charles and VV stood watching the large screen television. They watched as Cornelia re-introduced Lelouch and the boy making a speech about him and his sister trying to learn the ways of the commoners and how they had been happy to have each other through it all. VV snickered in the corner and Charles attempted to repress a smile.

"Oh if only that was the truth." The small boy laughed as Charles paused the screen of the television on a clear picture of Lelouch's face. "I'm sure Clovis would have found this very humorous."

Charles just grunted as he continued to look at the boy, the smile grew bigger. "Like father, like son. Lelouch is truly my child, deceiving everyone around him with that power at his disposal."

"Surely this will get in the way though."

Charles sighed as he began pacing around the room. "It's an interesting development, I have you know that but for now we shall just let it play out. If the boy is too much hassle, we will have to resort to using his own precious Nunnally against him."

"Oh, such crude tactics against your own children brother," said VV as he turned his head towards the Emperor.

"If I didn't use such tactics then I'd fear the fall of my throne," replied Charles. "For now it is clear, one of the most dangerous pieces has returned to the board."

_**O.o.O**_


	6. Chapter 6

Discovered

Brought to you by Gohan-to-the-Max, please review

Chapter six- The choice

Three days have passed since Lelouch was introduced back to the life of royalty, yet still there was no word from the homeland. Anxiously he waited in Cornelia's office, it was the one place where she wanted him to be at all hours just so she could keep an eye on him and prevent him from trying to disappear from her life once more. He hated this, he hated waiting for his father just to find out his and Nunnally's fate and it's not like he could fake his own death again. Cornelia sat behind her desk, in front of her was a wad of paper however she wasn't looking at it, instead her eyes were watching Lelouch, just like a hawk. It was the look of 'I'm never going to let my brother leave me again' which frightened him ever so slightly; it meant that getting away for even the briefest of moments was next to near impossible.

He stared out of the window of the government complex, buildings surrounded the area and yet there was no touch of green in sight. He sighed, it seemed so dull and boring, but what made things worse is that for the past three days he had done nothing but remain by Cornelia's side.

As interesting as it sounded, it wasn't, he only found out a little information which could help the Black Knights. The highlight of it all was watching the anti-terrorist meetings and the discussing of military strategies; some of which he was unable to join in at times because Euphemia and Nunnally requested his presence. His thoughts rested with CC, it was apparent that she could easily get away with becoming Zero, though her tactics were a little more crude.

"So Lelouch, do you fancy going out today?" Cornelia asked as she picked up a pen and signed some of the sheets of paper. "I've noticed you have a bored expression on your face and I can't bear to see you moping about like you're on some kind of jail sentence."

"It is a jail sentence; father is delaying this sentence and preparing me for death," He joked while Cornelia didn't look the slightest bit amused.

"Father does not wish any of us dead, though at times he ignores us, he care for us still Lelouch. He shut himself away from the world following Clovis' death and it was to him and myself that I swore I would catch our dear brother's murderer!"

The young Prince gulped which was unnoticed by Cornelia, he realised that technically she had caught his killer, but she didn't know as of this second. He released a sigh which caught her attention; she raised an eyebrow at him as he quickly thought of a way to cover up.

"Maybe you're right and we should go out, it's not like the homeland will contact us today,"

"Exactly and even if they do we can get back into contact so easily, I'd tell my secretary to direct any calls from Schneizel to my cell number."

"That won't be necessary." Both Cornelia's and Lelouch's head turned to the door; both greeted with a warm welcoming smile of Schneizel el Britannia, the prime minister of Britannia. A smile stretched across Lelouch's face, to him this was perfect seeing Schneizel in person. How he longed to see Schneizel once again, how he wanted to challenge his teacher to another game of chess just to see if he had finally suppressed his greatest opponent. Not only that, he wanted to get him alone so he could activate his Geass in privacy.

"Schneizel, pleasure to see you again," Lelouch said with a devilish grin on his face. "How I longed for a decent opponent at chess once more."

The prime minister laughed as he walked into his sister's office, his eyes keeping on Lelouch as his smile grew. "Likewise Lelouch, it will be an honour to play someone of your ability once again but alas I'm here on a business meeting." The blonde Prince sighed as he pulled out a large roll of paper from his cape. "Please take a seat, there's a lot to cover in such a short amount of time."

The black sky drizzled upon those below it, the sound of the children in the ghetto playing in delight as they splashed the large puddles. Screams of happiness erupted throughout the small neighbourhood and all the red haired beauty could do was smile and think about her and her older brother playing in the puddles when it rained. She still wished she was able to live so care free but she knew that their freedom was in danger and one day they would be just too old to play in the puddles. That's why she fought, for her brother and for the future of the Japanese people. She didn't want to see children caught up in the conflict but it couldn't always be avoided; this way at least none of them would go through the pain of watching the whole country being torn apart. They would never see mothers dragged away from the just because she was a pure native. If it wasn't for her father being who he was, she would have shared the same fate as her mother and would be working at some upper class Britannian snobs' home.

It was then when Ohgi tapped on her shoulder that she finally fell out of her trance. She turned to face her close friend as she nodded her head, from the corner of her eyes she watched as Zero began walking in the open through the area of the children as though nothing was there. He was now perhaps one of the most wanted men in area eleven yet,because of his mysterious behaviour and ability to lurk in the shadows without a care in the world. She could tell there was something different about him and this difference made him sort of attractive in her eyes.

She shook her head; he seemed not in the least bit interested in females. Perhaps he was batting for the other team? Once again she shook her head; there was no interest in males either so he couldn't. She struggled to make sense of him, she knew she had to gain his trust because then maybe she can see who Zero really is.

"Q1, perhaps it's time to stop daydreaming and get in your knightmare." Zeros voice echoed through her microphone, still she noticed something strange about his voice. Kallen just shrugged and followed her orders as she began walking to the area where the knightmare frame was kept. She took one last look at the children and smiled.

She knew then that she had to make Japan a better place for them.

"So what has been decided brother?" Cornelia asked, she seemed more desperate to know his fate then he did. "Father has made up his mind hasn't he?"

"Yes father has made up his mind but sorry Lelouch. It seems you have a choice to make and it's not exactly going to be an easy choice though it does mean you get to play a role in expanding the Britannian empire."

It was those words, 'expanding the Britannian empire' which made the black haired boy cringe, it meant his father had his eyes set on marriage. Though to who and where in the world would their father like to conquer most out of the few nations remaining independent. It wasn't much of a choice if both options involved marriage, did it mean he got the choice of brides or will his father expect him to do what he did and have many brides. He couldn't get married before he found love himself or it would just be an empty marriage.

"My Choices Schneizel? From the sound of it marriage is my only option," said Lelouch, his thoughts quickly racing over the alternatives presented before him.

"Well it is involved in both the options but one is more simple than the other."

"Care to explain?" Princess Cornelia snapped as she played with her nails. "Lelouch and I were just about to go out and relax before you came in! He's only just become publicly known once again and already he's being forced into something this extreme!"

"Always as fierce as ever I see Cornelia." The blonde haired Prince laughed as he ran his fingers through his long blonde hair and smiled when Cornelia scowled. "You have the choice of marrying the Prime minster of Australia's daughter now but you'd have to leave area eleven for good or postpone the wedding to complete military duties in area eleven and later go into the engagement. The latter option leads to a loophole of you being able to stay here if you were assigned to area eleven but you need to live in Australia for a few months to bond with her family."

Lelouch quickly assessed the situation. His father the emperor was sending him to Australia of all places, the one nation that had not raised a single hand throughout the entire process of the war. He would have to ponder later about why he was being sent to such a desolate place but now was not the time. "I want to stay here so I can be by Nunnally's side!" Lelouch hissed while Schneizel laughed.

"That's exactly what father said you'd do."

**Half an hour later**

By now Schneizel had left, he didn't have the time to pop in and visit Nunnally which if she knew that he had come down and not seen her, then Lelouch feared it would upset her. It seemed the news would be best in person that Schneizel was only down to see his dear friend while he was at home. To himself he smiled, if Kallen's father knew where she was and what she was doing right now it wouldn't be a good situation for her. Cornelia finished signing a few more documents before she pressed down on a button on a phone and carefully opened her mouth.

"Send in Darlton to my office."

Without much time passing by, the door to the office opened and Darlton strolled in. A serious look was stretched across his scarred face as he knelt down before his 'Princess'; he then stood up and knelt before Lelouch.

"Brother, Darlton is to teach you basic military and run you through your training. I believe we'd get a better response from you if you had one on one sessions and he's the best man I have for this."

"Just great," sighed Lelouch with his hands running throughout his hair and a frown upon his face. This meant he had to do the worst thing to him – exercise.

"One more thing, I just filled out the paperwork but I now have Tohdoh's execution date to be three days from now. I will need both of you to attend as security will be tight."

Two hours have passed and now Kallen was bored. There has been no sign of the ships which were meant to bring the drugs and by now it was annoying her. She's been sitting in this knightmare frame for over three hours and still nothing, perhaps Zero got the information wrong? It wasn't likely, he always seemed to know what he was doing yet again he did seem different. In her head she kept thinking of Lelouch, she wished she knew earlier that he was a Prince because then she could have taken him out and got rid of one of the children of the bastard who rules her life. She wished she was with him right now; her dagger strapped to her upper right thigh would have looked good in his throat.

"The bastard." She hissed, forgetting that her microphone was still on. She heard Oghi laugh in the background and her cheeks turned slightly red yet she knew no one could see her.

"What bastard Kallen?" Tamaki sniggered. "If you're going to mention how you should have killed Prince Lelouch when you had the chance, then save it. I'm sure Zero will give him the same treatment as Clovis if he hurts us Japanese!"

"Pay attention to the task at hand!" The voice of Zero intercepted. "This line is to keep in contact and not for your general chat. As for the matter of Lelouch, he may be more beneficial alive then dead."

Kallen's interest peaked at those words, clearly Zero had something in mind for how he would use Lelouch. She recalled how Zero had allowed Euphemia to live, perhaps there would come a time when her former school council member would be of use to the Black Knights. It was then when they saw the ship coming into harbour, on top was ten Sutherlands defending the ship. It seemed whoever on it had money and knew about the Black Knights raids. Kallen smirked as she was ready to go into battle, thinking that at least she'll get a decent fight out of sitting around for hours watching the sea.

"This will be fun." She laughed as she charged straight towards her pray like a tiger catching a Zebra, pushing the thoughts of Lelouch to the back of her mind. They responded by the units heading towards her as she led the black knights into battle. Zero waited behind the others, knowing that 'he' had a different job at hand. Only CC and Lelouch knew it was going to be more than a simple drug raid, this was a rescue mission of numbers shipped over for slavery in the drug business.


	7. Chapter 7

**Team Dragon Star own nothing. This is brought to you by Gohan-to-the-Max and Caught in a moment.**

**Chapter Seven- Disturbance, part one**

"I'm going to take you all down!" Kallen screamed as she threw the Guren up in the air. Her enemies Sutherlands departed from the ship as they too charged towards the black knights, a smile stretched across her delicate features as a single thought ran across her head. This was going to be easy.

Immediately the enemy Sutherlands began shooting, yet her quick thinking managed to dodge the bullets. It looked almost as though she was dancing in this mechanical beast, her movements were so smooth; it was as if the Guren was piloted by an experienced knightmare pilot. For once, the green-haired immortal admired something other than pizza, yet she doubted that the red-haired girl could defeat her in a knightmare battle; after all she was taught by the best around.

They continued shooting, aiming mostly for the red knightmare frame with the silver right hand. She continued to dodge and advance closer towards the enemies. Behind her were the rest of the black knights in their respected frames and they were offering her support from the rear. The Guren shot grenades towards the enemies and only one was engulfed by fire- shortly followed by a loud explosion. She was inches away from one of her enemies, yet more seemed to be approaching from the distance. It was as though they were going up against an army, but how can a mere noble man have this many people under his control?

Whatever the reason was, they had to work bloody hard to get out of this mess. What was Zero thinking, or didn't he know? She grabbed onto the Sutherland by its head with the Guren's silver arm. This was perhaps her favourite part of this knightmare frame, though the most dangerous. The radiation wave surfer was a beauty, she activated the emitter as radiation ran throughout the hand. Already the electrics of the enemy knightmare frame started to fry, the outer shell began to warp as by now it would be too late for the enemy pilot to eject. Another life lost at her hands as the frame became unsalvageable.

Gunshots flew past the head of the Guren, as with her left arm she smashed another frames head in. This was too easy for her, yet at the same time she was having the time of her life. It wasn't long until something caught her attention; it seemed the Britannian noble had his own custom knightmare frame. It looked as though it was a Sutherland model, yet the colours were all off. Instead of the dark purple, the frame was silver with golden gloves for hands, two large guns rested behind it's back. It lifted its arms up so there was now an almost ninety degree angle from the legs and were now pointing directly at Kallen.

There was a flash of gold as the two golden hands came directly towards her frame. Unsure of what damage they could do to her, she attempted to deflect the golden hands, but as soon as they touched her frames body she was thrown back twenty feet. Inside her cockpit, she was able to see the damage they caused and for something of that design, it caused considerable damage. Luckily for her, the attack didn't do anything to affect the motor output and mobility of this machine and immediately she charged towards the custom Sutherland knightmare. Already the hands automatically returned to the arms of her enemy's Sutherland and the pilot thrusted the machine forward towards her Guren. They were metres apart before she launched forwards, stretching out her deadly right hand to grab onto the enemies machine, but alas she was pushed back and her attempt at attacking failed.

A smile grew on her face from within the cockpit- now this was interesting. Someone of exceptional skills was up against her and she wasn't going to give up and lose this easily. She glanced around the surrounding area; it seemed as though the Black Knights were holding their own battles with the other Sutherlands. At least now it meant she could enjoy this fight.

Meanwhile, CC sat in her Knighmare's cockpit as she watched the little battle. She was currently deciding when she should make her move now that the enemies have all come out to play. She only had to wait for that custom Sutherland to get interested in the battle with Kallen- she had a rough idea on who could have the resources and a small army to his disposal and she knew that if it was this guy in particular, Kallen wasn't going to have an easy time, but the results were in her favour.

It was then when the immortal girl watched the two frames begin to wrestle with the arms when she launched her frame. It was her mission to get the slaves out and hopefully return them to their designated areas. Sleuthly, CC sneaked past the Black Knights shooting at the enemy Sutherlands; it seemed they were all too occupied to chase after her.

"Q1, distract him as much as possible while I go in for the 'numbers' that are to be used in the refrain industry."

"Right Zero, I'm going to teach this bastard a lesson for messing with the innocent people in this world!" Kallen hissed. "You're going to die you Britannian bastards!"

Kallen smashed the silver hand against the enemy frame, radiation seeped out of it until he shot another golden glove towards her. This pushed her back as she charged at him once more. It was Brittanian men who were only interested in money that gave bad names to the numbers. If it wasn't for them liberating them and selling them into slavery for the refrain industry, people might not think so badly of them. Now Kallen knew the full objective of this mission; looking at reports sent to her on her screen she could see that the lower decks of this ship held over a hundred people illegally brought in.

She continued her combat with this monster, yet from the corner of her eye she saw something emerge from the ship. Something was heading straight towards Zero.

* * *

><p>"Cornelia, what is to come first: my marriage with the Australian diplomats daughter or my military training?" Lelouch asked as he lounged on a chair within her office, trying to create conversation whilst she was busy doing paperwork. From what he could see, it was all very dull and boring, but he supposed it had to be done. He watched as she lifted up her head, smiling gently at him as she stood up.<p>

"Well, you're official military training is to begin first, though you would be doing it differently with your own mentor. It's the best way I could protect you while you're still this weak and weedy-looking; it is up to our father when you marry the diplomat's daughter, but I suspect that you won't have long to know her."

"Oh." Lelouch sighed, knowing that his father would rather get this isolated Island under his control. "Does it not strike you a bit off that the Australian government wants to sell their country through marriage to us?"

"I don't think they have a choice Lelouch; it's either marriage or the country will get invaded. This is something that they must see us as threatening as we currently control most of the world, at least that's fathers theory, but I don't trust them one bit, which is why I want you trained in self defence for when you are to go."

"Cornelia, I'd be fine," Lelouch said as his elder sister started walking towards him with a scowl upon her face. He knew she didn't believe he'd be fine. In her eyes, him and Nunnally were almost as precious to her as Euphemia. Throughout their childhood, it was them four who seemed to spend the majority of their time together, mainly because how much his mother influenced the witch of Britannia.

"I want you to have a Knight and I want Nunnally to as well," The purple-haired Princess spoke, standing only inches apart from Lelouch, who felt uncomfortable sitting down while standing. He too stood up, facing his elder sister and put a smile on his face.

"I will be fine, you're just worrying..."

By now they were inches apart, causing him to gulp as he looked up at her. A serious look was upon her face as she engulfed him in a hug. "I'm not losing you again, I'm keeping a close eye on you Lelouch."

This was what he feared, for the sake of his plans and his role of Zero. If she knew the truth, it might break down and destroy her- she would be in fact losing him if she carried on the course of action she was on. For the first time since Clovis' death, Lelouch felt a hint of guilt roaming about in his heart , yet he was stronger than this. For now he had to do as she pleased, though it would be hard to find a knight in Britannia who will follow his ideals; it wasn't as though he could just get Kallen from the Black Knights. No he had to find someone who would be faithful to him.

"Fine," Lelouch muttered as Cornelia stepped back from him. She quickly checked her phone and her smile disappeared. "Were we not meant to go out?"

"I'm afraid that we have more pressing matters to deal with. It seems Zero is attacking a Britannian scientist, Lord Fashword I am to believe."

"And?"

"We need to apprehend Zero and capture him for his crimes against Britannia!"

* * *

><p>CC dodged the slash Harken aimed at her. It seems that the 'slaves' had extra protection than what Lelouch bargained for. From the corner of the screen, she watched as Q1 attempted to come to "Zero's aid," yet the immortal could handle it herself. She shot a couple of grenades, which missed the fast Knightmare. It seemed to be that this was a new model in general, one built for speed.<p>

Again she dodged the attacks sent on her. All this did was just make the mission trickier than what was foretold. Neither she or Lelouch expected an army at their disposal, but now the green-haired immortal could see that this wasn't just any Britannia noble; it was a scientist with wealth at his disposal.

"Zero, we have an issue," Oghi hissed through the open communication line. "It seems the Britannian military is getting involved."

"Let them," Zero replied with rather a cool head. It seems this could either be good or bad news for the Black Knights. She had to admit, she didn't expect Cornelia to risk coming here, at least when Lelouch was under her watch, but this could play to Lelouch's advantage. Now if there were any suspicions on Lelouch being Zero, they can be crossed off. After all how could someone be in two places at once?

Meanwhile, in the convoy, Lelouch and Cornelia stood staring at the screen. Both rather surprised at the numbers of Knighmare frames Lord Fashword had to his disposal. Something didn't speak right about the circumstance

"What do you think the Black Knights are aiming to gain? I have a feeling its weapons to carry on their terrorist ways!" The Princess hissed as she turned to face Guildford and Darlton. "Apprehend the Black Knights, I want Zero brought to me alive!"

"Yes , your majesty."

"What I want to know is what are they defending on that ship?" Lelouch asked as Cornelia turned to face him. "Zero isn't a mere terrorist, but a freedom fighter. He defends the weak, yet there are no weak people around. I would capture the Lord..."

"Lelouch, you're new to all of this,.You're suggesting treason played on Lord Fashword's account..."

"Well, why else would he have his own army to his disposal? I suggest we raid the ship and if the Lord is so against it, it means he is hiding something. You know as well as I, that our society is corrupt, yet the government doesn't act on it."

"You're a mere child Lelouch, what do you know about politics?" she hissed, knowing that some of what he said made sense. She hated being proven wrong, though and there was never a time where she would just back down- not even for the sake of her brother.

"Prince Lelouch is right," the cold voice of Zero announced, the two turning to the big screen and seeing his masked face upon it. "I thought of speaking up- this family argument was really getting to me head."

The black-haired prince pulled his hand to his face. It seemed CC was putting her own approach to the situation at hand. "How did you hack into the system?" asked Cornelia, outraged that the privacy of the command centre could be broken into so easily.

"It matters not," said Lelouch as he stood up. "Tell me Zero, what information do you have on Lord Fashword that we may not know about?"

"Before I myself was targeted, I had been heading towards the ship where Lord Fashword is using numbered slaves to help run his refrain manufactory," explained Zero to which Cornelia froze slightly. Having not known the Lord personally, she was unable to determine what was the right situation as of this moment, but had to have faith in her fellow countrymen.

"You have no evidence to back up such a claim," stated Cornelia, trying to gain the upper hand against the masked vigilante.

"Then I offer you this then: allow me and my men to do as we have come here to do and if our theories prove correct, then allow us to liberate the men and women from this slavery and bring down another source of refrain to the country. When our theory proves correct, then you will allow us to leave this area unharmed," stated the Zero-disguised CC calmly.

"And if your grounds prove false?" asked Cornelia.

"Then I shall offer myself up willingly."


	8. Chapter 8

** Discovered **

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**Team Dragon Star own nothing. This chapter of Discovered was brought to you by Gohan-to-the-Max and Caught in a moment. **

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**Chapter Eight- **

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Cornelia's mouth dropped slightly; this was the perfect opportunity if the tyrant was wrong- at last she could make Zero pay for his crimes. Such a deal, however, had to have a catch; she couldn't let him escape if he was proven wrong, which she was almost certain he was.

"You say you will offer yourself to me? No catch?" She pondered whilst she stared at the masked man on the big screen. How she wished to see his face and finally know his identity and he basically offered himself on a silver platter.

"No catch at all your Highness." His tone sounded like it was mocking her. Just like his sister, Lelouch was wondering what on Earth was going through "Zero's" mind, this move was reckless yet it was ingenious. If Cornelia was anything like how he thought she was, she would be curious to this offer and want to prove the masked 'villain'. He had to say CC was a genius if this went her way.

"Fine Zero, let's see if your sources are reliable then. You have my permission to inspect Lord Fashword's ship, though I expect you to come easily if your accusations of slaves running a refrain factory are untrue." The purple-haired princess hissed as she turned off the monitor to Zero. A grumpy scowl rested on her face as she stared towards Darlton. "Get Lord Fashword up on the screen now!"

Without speaking a word, Darlton followed the witch of Britannia's command. On the screen in front of them was a rather plump man. His grey hair was starting to thin, the occasional bald spot rested on his head as he lazily sat in his chair. He was wearing a golden suit with at least six rings spread across his fingers. Lying on the floor next to him rested an over-sized pistol . As he looked up to the screen, he ran his fingers through his balding hair and released a smile, exposing his golden teeth.

"Your Highness," he said as he bowed his head in respect. "What gives me this honour of you talking directly to me?"

"A ceasefire has been ordered and immediately I request to access your ship as well as the permission of Zero and the members of my glaston knights."

"But why Princess Cornelia? Surely you must try to kill the man who killed our dear Clovis."

"That will come later, but for now there is business to attend to. We need to inspect your ship and failure to allow us to inspect it will result in the penalty of treason."

"This is preposterous! You question me, a faithful servant of the king and country of being treasonous while the man who surely has conducted treason is getting off on a light note? Why I never your Highness! Such a thought would destroy my image!"

"Let her on board," Lelouch growled in a tone which even sent shivers running down Corenlia's spine. Already the prince was getting fed up of this man's delaying tactics. If Cornelia couldn't tell that he was hiding something by now then he would have to question her sense.

It was then when the lord let of a sigh of defeat. "Yes your highness'."

A smirk reached across Lelouch's face. It was checkmate for that lord and CC gamble wouldn't have to come into effect. The monitor closed off as the Princess stood up. She, Guilford and Darlton began walking towards the door as Lelouch got up to follow.

"Stay Lelouch!" Corenlia ordered sharply.

"I can help you," Lelouch protested.

"We need someone to be left in charge of the convoy, just in case Zero or Lord Fashword attempt to exterminate us and succeed, plus you're not currently trained to handle these matters."

* * *

><p>Within ten minutes, the convoy doors opened revealing Cornelia and other soldiers in knightmere frames. With a quick launch, they were off to the ship where Zero was waiting for the Princess all by his own. The Glaston Knights left a few seconds after, but they didn't go as far as they were currently moving into position to stop any escape Zero might attempt in case his allegations proved false. Lelouch scanned around the battlefield, it seems the Black Knights were in a rather tactical position to make a swift escape or to counterattack his remaining forces in case he decided to take the Black Knights down while their "leader" was away.<p>

The black-haired prince turned to face one of the remaining crew members within the main chambers of the convoy. He released a slight smile and gently dropped his mouth while the worker just stood there waiting for the important decision that the Prince was going to make. "Where's the toilet?"

"The...toilet..." The purple-haired crew member gasped as Lelouch nodded his head. "Down the corridor to the left your highness."

"Cheers." The scrawny raven-haired boy said as he began making his way to the exit, leaving the poor man surprised. As soon as he left the room, he began to run down the corridor until he reached the door labeled toilet. Once inside, he monitored it quickly for any form of surveillance and when the coast was clear, he pulled out a small black phone and immediately dialed a number.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Lelouch hissed through the phone, trying to keep his voice relatively low. He nodded his head as the person on the other end spoke back. "Well Cornelia would be with you in a minute. I suggest you get Q1 to act as support and before you go, make sure to not let Lord Fashword show you the ship; head straight towards the slave quarters."

"_I'm not an idiot Lelouch." _

"I know CC, but listen, I have a plan and you need to listen carefully." The rest of the conversation was done in a hushed whisper, but he soon finished, pressing the end call button before he made his way back into the main chambers of the convoy. He just prayed that his suspicions were correct about Lord Fashword and his "slaves" or CC's immortality would be available for Cornelia to experiment on. It wasn't as though he could use his geass on her again to save the green-haired girl.

"Damn it!" he hissed, wishing that it was him out there instead of being stuck in the convoy. "Why the hell did Cornelia have to find me?"

* * *

><p>"Ahhh your Highness, would you like to follow me?" The plump man happily said while attempting to keep up his appearance. The purple-haired princess exited her cockpit, two revolvers dangling from her belt, which caused the lord to gulp. In the corner, Zero leaned up against the wall, stealing the attention of the Lord for just a few seconds.<p>

"If there is any funny business, I will have Prince Lelouch shoot missiles towards both the Black Knights and this ship regardless that I'm aboard," Corenlia threatened, her mood darkened by the sight of the two men.

"Oh your Highness, that certainly won't be the case," Lord Fashword sang as he moved closer to her. "May I offer you some tea from the homeland?"

"First let's check to see if these 'allegations' are true," she hissed, turning her body to now face the tyrant. "Where did your intelligence say the refrain factory workers were being stored?"

Underneath the Zero mask, CC let of a smile. She pushed her body of the wall as she began walking onto the large ship. All around them were Lord Fashword's army—they were no longer in knightmare frames, but were all standing in line with guns in their hands. "Try the lower decks," she suggested, keeping the amusement out of her voice.

Lord Fashword just stood there as Zero, Cornelia, Guildford and six soldiers entered the ship; he waited a few moment until he turned to a man standing towards his left.

"Organise an attack on the Black Knights and the rest of Princess Cornelia's army. Looks like it's game over for us unless we destroy all witnesses."

"Yes my lord."

It was then when he began to board his own ship with four of his men, one passed him an armed rifle.

Meanwhile, Zero walked in front of Cornelia. It had been her orders in case the tyrant went against his word and destroyed her while she had her back facing to him. She couldn't let him seem like he was in the slightest bit of control. It was then when the lights flickered off in the grey corridor that something didn't feel right. CC continued walking ahead—according to their source it was just at the end of this straight corridor.

"_Zero, we have a problem!" _ Kallen spoke through the communication radio in her mask. "_Fashword's army has began attacking the Black Knights and he and a small portion of his men have just boarded the ship with rifles. You don't have long until he attacks..." _

With that the communications came to a hold as the masked individual paused. CC pulled out a pistol in her hands as she scanned down the corridor. So far it was only the Brittanians. "Fashword is coming to kill us."

It was then when Cornelia's phone buzzed, quickly she answered it. "Lelouch, what is it?"

_"Fashword's openly attacked us. Luckily we had men standing by, but he's entered the ship with rifles. The Glaston Knights are currently trying to get you out safely, but their defence is stronger than we anticipate."_

"Damnit," the princess hissed. This could only mean one thing: Zero was right about this lord and there was nothing they could do. Inside they were cornered and they still haven't seen any proof of the slaves. "Men, stay behind and defend this corridor. Guildford, Zero, and I will continue to the slaves area."

"Your Highness, least let one of us come with you for defence?"

"Fine, you come, the rest of you keep your guard up."

"We have to be quick," Zero glumly said. "Straight on."

The four began running. Within thirty seconds they began to hear gunshot fire, which was then shortly followed by some screams. An opening full of light appeared in front of them as they headed straight towards it. Once they entered, there were countless numbers of refugees standing all close together. In front of them were instruments required to manufacture refrain.

"Game over Princess Cornelia," Fashword said as he emerged from the shadows, blood spattered across his clothing. Behind him four men with rifles followed. Immediately, they pointed their guns at the remaining four. "You've seen too much your Highness; if you hadn't listened to Zero, maybe you would have been able to live another day just so you could see your precious Euphemia, Lelouch, and Nunnally."

His gun raised higher as Cornelia pulled out a pistol from her hands, her knight copying her action as he aimed directly at Fashword. He moved slightly in front of the princess as he ushered her back. Fashword's other soldiers began pointing their guns at both Zero and the other soldier and without any hesitation the other soldier was shot down.

"Oops, just three remaining."

Then there was another gunshot, followed by another. Two men from Fashwords side fell to the ground as "Zero" was holding up two revolvers, he moves his hands over to point at the lord. "My fingers slipped."

"How about we put the guns down and negotiate?"

* * *

><p>"You stupid mother fuckers!" The red-haired girl screamed as she attempted to advance further towards the ship. Zero was on board all by himself with the Witch of Britannia, her knight and the man that turned on them all in a cease fire. From what she could see, Cornelia's Glaston Knights were adopting tactics similar to her own and that was to get to their leader and ensure her safety.<p>

She slammed one of the enemies Knightmare frames onto the floor, sparks flew from out of it as she finished the blow. She was coming for Zero even though it was his fault he was in this situation. If only he listened to her and took her with him, but then her identity would be at stake.

"Damn it!" she screamed as she blew off another knightmare frame's head.

* * *

><p>Still a standoff was in order between Cornelia, Zero, Guildford, Fashword and his remaining two men. All continued staring at each other as Zero made the first steps forwards. From outside they could all hear the sound of gunfire, loud bangs occurred on the top of the ceiling as the slaves moved further back in the room. Cornelia quickly assessed the situation from the corner of her eyes. There was only one exit, which currently Fashword occupied. Her eyes glimpsed the black mask of Zero. This situation prevented her from getting into that mask and revealing the identity of that masked noble man ruined the chances she had to get Zero without any fuss at all and for that he was to pay for his crimes. This stand off wasn't going to go anywhere unless someone actually shot a bullet and she couldn't be the one laying dead on the floor.<p>

Fashword's hand hovered over the trigger. Cornelia's body was in his shooting zone although he wasn't the only one in the room ready to press the trigger. Within a few seconds a bullet was shot, followed by another and another. The third Princess of Brittania fell to the ground, blood seeped from her left leg due to the bullet just grazing her skin. Meanwhile, Fashword's body was laying on the ground with a bullet in his chest and in his head. His two men stood there for a few seconds before dropping their guns, both gulped as Zero still stared directly towards them. One of his recently fired guns raised towards the man closest to him, hovering there for just a few seconds.

"Stop Zero!" the witch of Brittania screeched as she forced her body off the ground whilst Guildford offered her support. "These men need to stand trial or we won't have any evidence of treason!"

"Yes your highness," he mocked as he began to move the two prisoners outside. The princess and Guilford followed with the slaves walking behind them at an even slower pace than the cripple ruler.

It wasn't long before they reached the outside. The devastating destruction was the first thing that reached their eye. The fight had came to a stop, knightmare frames scattered over the ground as though it was supposed to be a junk yard. The knightmares that the Princess came over with still rested in their exact position with next to no damage on them. Although surrounding them was a number of her foot soldiers, which looked as though they were going to be coming in to rescue her. Her eyes scanned through the crowd as the Black Knights moved closer in. She focused on one of their faces as her own turned into an angry scowl.

"Lelouch!" she hissed while Guilford and Darlton moved a number of the troops away from the royals minus a trio of soldiers that stood protectively around Lelouch. A group separated from the large mass of people, which marched prisoners back to the convoy. "You were meant to stay in the convoy!"

"And leave you with all the fun?" smirked Lelouch with an assault rifle in his hands. He turned his attention away from Cornelia and towards the three soldiers who stood by him. "I want you three to head downstairs and release the slaves."

"Yes, your Highness!" they responded almost robotically before they moved towards the stairwell.

"So this must be Prince Lelouch," said Zero.

"Zero, I never thought I'd see the day when you and I came face to face," said Lelouch preventing himself from chuckling, almost seeing the situation as if he was looking into a mirror.

"Lelouch, get away from him," commanded Cornelia, getting ever closer to where Lelouch and Zero stood, but not quickly enough as a rogue soldier stormed into the doorway with a pistol in hand.

"Die Zero!" he shouted as he prepared to fire. Cornelia from her position could see that not only was Zero likely in the line of fire, but so too was Lelouch. Before she could shout a warning to her brother, she watched in awe as Zero pushed Lelouch out of the way of fire as a gunshot rang out, the bullet hitting Zero straight in the chest where Lelouch had been only a second earlier.

Two more shots rang out, but not from the same gun as both Guilford and Darlton turned their weapons at the soldier and shot him dead without hesitation, both knowing that having put Prince Lelouch's life in jeopardy his own life was forfeit. Yet as the last bit of life escaped the soldier, so too did the red rings around his eyes.

"Lelouch!" shouted Cornelia as she rushed to her brother's side, the prince trying to put on a brave face as he was helped to his feet.

"I'm alright," he urged her before looking at Zero. "You saved my life, why? I was right in the line of fire and you risked your own life to save mine."

"On this mission we were allies against a common cause," said CC, her immortality already healing her from the otherwise fatal shot. "Had the positions been switched I trust that you would have done the same. Besides, you have shown no reason for us to target you—I trust you will keep it that way."

Neither Lelouch or Cornelia smiled at this statement, one for the fact he knew that this was the script he had plotted earlier while Cornelia was glaring at Zero, wondering what their long term plan was. Before her stood a person who had killed one of her brothers, yet now they had saved her younger brother from what could have been a similar fate. "Zero..."

"Cornelia, there are many wounded troops, on both the Britannian and the Black Knights," said CC stoically. "The battle is now over and medical attention must be given to those who need it. Thank you in your support of bringing down the corruption and injustice that Lord Fashword displayed. I don't doubt that we will see each other again." Those were the final words that CC said before she walked out in a composed manner, knowing that she would be receiving a call from Lelouch at a later hour about the next plan of action.

Cornelia meanwhile stared at the ever distant back of Zero, recalling that when he had saved Euphemia he had entitled his team as the "Knights of Justice." Zero had saved both the life of his sister and brother, yet had taken the life of Clovis without a second thought. Right now they had said that there was no reason to consider Lelouch an enemy, the young prince having shown no "injustice" as the masked vigilante would likely say. She could only assume as well then, that Euphemia was the same, but that left one final question.

What had Clovis done to bring upon the wrath of Zero? 


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is brought to you by Gohan-To-The-Max and Razamataz22, hope you enjoy.**

Chapter nine - Delving Deep

...

The sun beamed brightly down the streets of area eleven, a dash of pink was seen strolling along them. She was alone, vulnerable and yet felt as though she was in the safety of her own room. She continued walking, finally enjoying this freedom from her sisters watchful eye. The birds twittered as she went past a small Brittanian private school and two small boys came running out, one with a black cape around him and the other with a toy gun in his hand. Euphemia came to a halt as she she intriguingly watched the children play. She remembered the days when that was her, Lelouch and Nunnally running around the grounds as if there was no tomorrow. Those were the days, when everything was simpler and none of the corrupted behaviors of the areas affected their day-to-day lives. In reality, she wished everything was simple and the conflict would just go away as though it was one of her bad dreams that haunted her every night.

"Zero, what must we do?" The boy with the gun asked the other. The other boy laughed as his black hair shimmered underneath the bright beams of light shooting down to him from the sun. He circled around the other boy, a slightly puzzled look was upon his face as he wondered what his hero should do. "The men have captured Princess Euphemia and you're laughing."

From inside the gate of the school, a small blonde girl with pink-hair extensions was screaming loudly. Next to the girl was a number of other boys, one had a monobrow drawn onto his face, whilst another held a fake gun to the girl playing 'Euphemia'. She struggled in the arms of her so-called capturer and the real Euphemia couldn't help but feel a frown slip across her face. Was she really so defenceless that she needed _rescuing_? Was this really the message she gave to the Brittanian people?

"Euphemia! Euphemia!" Another girl with brown hair screamed, while the boy playing Zero laughed once again. She was accompanied by two taller boys who held their hands as though it was a gun, the three of them walked forwards towards the boy playing Zero before pausing. They lifted their hands up to each other as they prepared to take aim. The first to lower their stance was 'Zero', he playfully picked his hands up into the air before letting off a rather devilish smirk.

"Fear not Princess Cornelia, I, Zero will save the princess for she is innocent and we Black Knights defend those who are innocent and vulnerable, even if it's Britannians like you!" And just like that, 'Zero' charged forward, laughing all the while as he prepared to rescue 'Euphemia.' By this time however, the real Princess Euphemia was already walking past the school grounds, already knowing how the game would unfold.

...

The documents before her didn't make any sense, money for the military was missing. Her eyes scanned over it a few dozen times before she lingered on the signature authorising this document. Clovis' name was written across it but where did this missing money go? It wasn't with the Lancelot project, she was guaranteed by Schneizel that all the funding for that was from his pockets only. It didn't make sense however, the blank spots on the pages before her sent a migraine throughout her brain. She wanted to discover where this money went because inside her mind, it was perhaps the cause of her brother's death. If only she was able to have Zero within her grasp, then maybe the answers that she seeked would be answered for. Inside there was a deep frustration, she could have gained him if it wasn't for Lord Fashword's backstabbing ways.

At the same time though, she knew that she never would have caught Zero if Lord Fashword was the honest man she had once thought he was. Had he been a decent citizen of Britannia, then she doubted that the Black Knights, or more importantly Zero, would have shown any interest in the Lord. Carefully, the fearsome princess opened a draw on her desk as she placed the document inside it before she closed it and twisted the key in the lock to the right. For now, she was the only one to see that and ponder on what it was.

On the pile of paperwork by her side, there was one document in particular that she had to deal with and that was the matter of Tohdoh's execution. Bringing it forward so that it would take place tomorrow, would mean that none of the terrorists working with him would attempt a rescue mission. As far as everyone else in area Eleven was concerned, his execution was the following week. All she had to do was authorise it with her signature and the deed would be done, her hand hovered over the box for a second before she quickly signed it.

It would be at that moment Lelouch stumbled into the office, feet dragging as he muttered something incoherent from his day of exercise. A twisted smile spread across Cornelia's face at the thought of the torment that her sibling had gone through compared to his prior day-to-day routine. "Rough day?" she asked as Lelouch slumped into an armchair, his energy practically drained completely.

"Don't ask," said Lelouch, not wanting to remember the horrible events that had transpired.

"Well compared to that then this next little part is going to be simple for you," said Cornelia as she pushed herself up from her desk, picking up the files she had just signed. With a casual toss they landed on Lelouch's lap, the teen not even turning his attention to the item.

"What is it?" he asked, his eyes staring at the ceiling fan that span above his head almost hypnotically.

"Details on Tohdoh's execution," explained Cornelia. Hardly a second passed before Lelouch reared into action, his fatigue pushed to the back of his mind as his eyes scanned the documents in front of him. He did his best not to smile, after all some of the most crucial information Zero had just received about a potential ally had literally fallen in his lap. "I wish for you to be present."

"I take it I don't really have a say in the matter," said Lelouch as he flicked through to the second piece of paper, making sure to memorize every important detail.

"Well I could always ask Darlton to push you twice as hard tomorrow if you have some spare time," said Cornelia coyly.

"While spending even more time with Darlton tomorrow would be most appreciated, I'm afraid I have other arrangements," said Lelouch.

"Good to hear," said Cornelia. "I've had enough deskwork for now and am going to have dinner with Euphemia and Nunnally, do you wish to join us?"

"Give it some time, I just want to go over these final details," said Lelouch with a casual wave as Cornelia left the room. Already a plan was forming in his head, all he had to do was relay the information to the Black Knights, or more specifically his replacement Zero, and he would leak all of the information necessary to create an escape plan. There was only one other part of the plan that needed to be created, and that would be to find the person who would be performing the execution and Geass them into botching the attempt on Tohdoh's life. Yet as he filtered through the information to the final page, he stopped as he found out just who would be the one to end Tohdoh's life.

"Kururugi Suzaku," said Lelouch, reading the name off of the paper. He gently placed the information back on the desk before running his hands over his face, lightly rubbing his eyes. He didn't know why out of all of the people within the military that they would choose an Honorary Britannian. Knowing Suzaku, Lelouch couldn't imagine that his friend would have requested such a thing, he didn't even know if Suzaku had the right to request such a thing. As far as he knew, Suzaku worked as a mere footman and when he wasn't in the frontline he helped out someway in the background with the Knightmare technology department. Making a small promise to himself, Lelouch knew that he had to find out just what it was that Suzaku did in the military.

He pressed that thought to the side though as he pulled out his phone, calling his the green haired witch. It didn't take long for CC to pick up on the other side, "_What is it?"_

"Tohdoh's execution is to be put forward, it occurs at eight o'clock tomorrow night," explained Lelouch keeping his voice down incase anybody nearby could hear him.

"_Something seems wrong, what is it?" _asked CC, automatically being able to sense that something was wrong with Lelouch just by the tone of his voice.

"Suzaku's the one who's going to be doing the execution," said Lelouch, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"_I see," _mused CC on the other side of the line.

"There are a lot of ways we can go about rescuing Tohdoh, the one that would make it almost completely successful without a single casualty is to have Suzaku botch the execution while we went about getting the Black Knights in to rescue Tohdoh," stated Lelouch.

"_Can you use your Geass on your friend like that though?" _asked CC, voicing out the most pinnacle piece of information. For the longest of moments Lelouch said nothing, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of his breathing before finally...

"No," declared Lelouch, resolute in his decision.

"_I see," _said CC who smiled unseed on the other side of the connection, happy that Lelouch still held some morales.

"Alright CC, this is what I need you to organize," said Lelouch as he started to construct the rescue operation.

...


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 - "I Choose You"**

**This chapter is brought to you by Gohan-to-the-max and Razamataz22**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Code Geass**

**...**

Lelouch sat within the confines of the lounge area having just witnessed one of the biggest jailbreaks in Britannian history. Down below, Cornelia lead her own private squad forward in an attempt to regain some lost honour but it would go highly unacknowledged in the yet to be written report.

It had all been over relatively quickly, the Black Knights attacked the compound, accompanied by members of the Four Holy Swords, in an attempt to rescue the highest profiled prisoner in 'Tohdoh of Miracles.' Needless to say, like any assault made by the Black Knights it had gone down with precision and with as few casualties as possible. They had stormed the area and busted Tohdoh out of prison, leaving behind the rest of the inmates before making their escape. Their one roadblock however had come in the form of Kururugi Suzaku, the honorary Britannian charging forward in Lancelot to make a difference to the battle.

But as Lelouch had planned, all of Suzaku's attacks came in a standardised pattern; the teenage boy used the same attack system as he had done on numerous occassions like a child using the same combo move in a game system. To most this would go highly unnoticed, but from the encounters between Suzaku and Lelouch the heir to the Britannian throne had been able to analyse it and use the Suzaku's strengths against him.

Lelouch stood up from his chair as he walked to the window, picking up a radio transmitter on the way through. "Cornelia, I'd say it'd be wise to forget chasing Zero for now," he said to his system over the private communication link.

_"What makes you so sure?" _responded the voice of Cornelia from inside her cockpit.

"The fact that this is Zero we're talking about, if you pursue him much further chances are you're going to fall into a trap of some kind," said Lelouch. For several seconds there was no response but as he watched the Britannian Knightmares come to a halt, he knew that his message had gotten through. He placed the radio on the table knowing that he would be out of suspicion's eye for a while, having been a witness to the battle that had taken place. He was not looking forward to the next day however, Darlton would not be in a happy mood and chances were that his frustrations would be taken out on Lelouch's petite frame during their next training session.

Apart from the devastation that would fill his body over the course of the next day, there were several other things he needed to think about. Due to a slight miscalculation on his part, Tohdoh had managed to hack off the top of the Lancelot's cockpit and reveal to the Black Knights that they had been fighting another Eleven. Not only that, but due to pre-arranged bookings the execution was meant to have been broadcast across Area Eleven to spread fear. Lelouch had planned on using this against the Britannians by showing the strength that the Black Knights possessed. Now however, everybody's thoughts would be upon the fact that Britannia had first off allowed an Eleven to man a Knightmare. It didn't matter if he was an honorary Britannian or not, this would give hope to other Eleven's that there was a future to be had if they followed the rules they were governed by. If there was anything positive to gain out of this scenario it would be that other Britannians could potentially lose trust in their government for allowing a non-Britannian citizen into the cockpit of a Knightmare in the first place.

Lelouch would have to be careful over the next couple of days, there was no real way of telling what would go on. Yet, he had an inkling thought that there would be real danger when Suzaku went to school the following day. While many of the other students would be wary of being around him more so than usual, chances were that one Kouzuki Kallen would attempt to bring her own redemption against the one she had fought against many times prior.

* * *

><p><em>Sir Harold C. Granson<em>

_Age: 34_

_Rank: Commanding officer of the knights of the 4th Eastern Platoon _

_Martial Arts skill rating: 86%_

_Marksmanship rating: 92%_

_Knightmare stimulation score: 90%_

_Date of joining: 17/06/2010_

_Sir Charles L. Hudsen _

_Age: 19_

_Rank: Knight private of the 6th Western Platoon_

_Martial arts skill rating: 90%_

_Marksmanship rating: 88%_

_Knightmare stimulation score: 93%_

_Date of joining: 5/01/2017_

_* Hardly any experience though he excelled through each stimulation and shows signs of becoming an exceptional knight_

_Dame Courtney G. Summotson_

Age: 23

Rank: Knight Private of the 4th Eastern Platoon

_Martial arts skill rating: 87%_

_Marksmanship rating: 90%_

_Knightmare stimulation score: 86%_

_Date of joining: 27/07/2013_

_Sir John R. Hope_

_Age: 29  
>Rank: Colonel of the 6th Western Troop<br>Martial arts skill rating: 89%  
>Marksmanship rating: 96%<br>Knightmare stimulation score: 72%_

_Date of joining: 08/12/2009_

Princess Euphemia sat on the end of her bed scowling, rested before her eyes was an oversized folder filled with pictures and names of men and women that her elder sister deemed worthy of becoming her knight. None of them seemed to interest her, sure they were all soldiers who had provided great honour and service to the Brittanian throne but the young princess didn't know a single one of them. How was she meant to form an alliance and place all of her trust in one of them? Wasn't that the whole point of the knighting system? These were all people that owed their loyalty to her sister, sure, they were of the same branch of the Brittanian royal family but everyone on the list would report her every actions to her sister.

She wanted to be herself, she wanted to make all of her own decisions and not regarded as Princess Cornelias' little sister. It was something that she couldn't bare to do, she didn't want to live in the shadows, she wanted to be remembered for doing great things and choosing one of her sister's warriors wouldn't be one of them. A Knight of Honour was meant to be with her almost all of the time and she could not even guarantee that she'd even get on with any of these had a genuine disinterest in the military which meant that unlike her sister, she didn't have the opportunity to get to know any of the men and women down in the barracks.

Boredly she pushed the folder of the end of her bed, none of these people would do and by now she was sick of looking. She just wanted to be normal for once and not have to worry about such boring and trivial things like selecting a Knight of Honour. Her hand hovered over the television remote for a few seconds before she turned it on, immediately it went to the channel which was broadcasting the execution of Todoh the miracle worker and the girl sighed. Her sister and brother were there currently, she had begged to join Lelouch but Cornelia had firmly refused and said that she needed to decide on who to have as her knight in order to attend such events. It was then when disaster struck and the young princess watched in horror as her brother was forced into the safety of one of Cornelia's men and her sister rushed off to fight those that disrupted the execution.

It seemed to be the black knights, she recognised the cape of the infamous Zero as he set Todoh free before Cornelia's eyes. Once again she sighed, knowing that her sister was going to be in a bad mood tonight. Minutes seemed to pass quickly as she now watched Todoh in the Knightmare Frame he recently acquired against the frame called the Lancelot, the fight seemed to be evenly match until the end. The young princess gasped as the miracle worker hacked of the top of the Lancelots cockpit before he retreated with the black knights. The whole of Britannia now could see that it wasn't a Britannian piloting the Knightmare frame, no, it was Suzako Kururugi who turned a sheepish white colour when his face was revealed to the world.

It was then when Euphy truly decided who her Knight of Honour was going to be, none of those men or women she could trust but Suzako... she could. Suzako has been there for her and she couldn't doubt his loyalty. He was perfect, it was though he was born for this role. She couldn't see anyone else being there beside her, though now she had to just convince him somehow and then she would need to gain her sister's support. That was what she was dreading, though this wasn't about Cornelia, this was about her safety. If only she could count on Cornelia's support,yet she still held onto stereotypical views of the 'numbers'. To her, this felt right, Suzaku Kururugi excelled at everything that a Knight of Honour should. He was perfect.

* * *

><p>Her throat burned with anger as stared at that face, she knew him all along and she could have taken that damn Kururugi boy out a long time ago. If only Zero left him to be executed, then she would never have had to fight that boy in that machine, if only she knew that it was him who caused her all of this trouble. Was this why Zero was so keen to save and recruit him? Was he aware of Kururugi's piloting abilities? Surely not, or he would have said something to her, she was Kallen Kouzuki, one of his most trusted recruits and his Q1.<p>

If it wasn't for Zero's command to retreat, she would have finished what Todoh couldn't. The man, though a legend and an inspiration to her, was a fool for pausing after seeing his ex pupil fighting against him. Kururugi could have finished him, though he had to be surprised that his identity was out to the world. She couldn't wait till she saw him at school tomorrow, then maybe she could finish the job she'd been trying to do for a few months. The old prime minister's son was going to fall, either from her hand or the hand of Britannia itself.

Justice had to be served.

* * *

><p>Suzaku couldn't believe it, here he was in the Viceroy's palace waiting for Princess Cornelia to take action. Word was that the Britannian nobility wasn't too fond of the idea of a number piloting a Knightmare Frame, not just any Knightmare Frame but one of the most powerful that had ever been created. If he was in their position, he could see why this revelation might cause an uproar, to them he was just another eleven and possibly a terrorist. Though he wasn't and the princess knew that he was one of the only ones capable of piloting that expensive frame. Time seemed to go slowly, he watched as her personal assistants answer the constant ringing of the phones before moving in and out of her office to explain the many situations that were occurring right now.<p>

"Suzaku!" He heard a petite and familiar voice yell from a distance. The young Japanese boy turned his head to the opening, there standing in the middle of the archway was Princess Euphemia, looking slightly out of breath.

"Princess, what are you doing here?" He asked as he stood from his chair and knelt before her. He rose shortly after as he gazed into her lilac eyes.

"I want you Suzaku." She gulped as she felt more then his eyes move onto her. Sweat dripped down her face as her hands trembled as the eleven boy looked shocked. She was also panicking, but all that mattered now was Suzaku's response, she didn't even notice the crowd which had gathered to witness the spectacle. "I want you to be my Knight of Honour."

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you all for reading, sorry about the long wait for the update. Gttm had a sudden case of writer's block but don't worry, we won't make you wait so long for the next update. <strong>

**Thank you for your support **

**Razamataz22**

**Gohan-to-the-max**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Knight of Honour **

**Disclaimer- We do not own Code Geass**

**This chapter is written by Gohan-To-The-Max, Razamataz22 and Lord Helen**

**...**

"You can't be serious!" Suzaku replied after the few seconds of shock left his system. His eyes moved around the room; apparently he wasn't the only one surprised with the young princess' declaration, and it seemed that Princess Cornelia and Prince Lelouch joined them in time to hear Euphy's outburst, and they too both fell into the same level of shock as himself.

"I am being serious, Suzaku. No one else fits the criteria as much as you do." The pink haired princess pouted.

"Euphy, you can't!" Cornelia yelped, not supporting the Princess' choice in the slightest. He

was a number, an honorary Britannian. This would cause an uproar with the nobles, not to mention their mother.

"You would refuse this offer, Suzaku?" Lelouch stated as he gave a slight smirk. "Is my little sister not good enough for you to protect?"

Suzaku paused for a second as he looked up towards his childhood best friend. "I would be honoured but..."

"Then that settles it; you are to become Princess Euphemia's Knight."

"Lelouch!" Cornelia hissed, though she was ignored by him. He couldn't do this, he couldn't let his sister get paired off with a number. Not even if this number was as trusted as Suzaku. Sure, if he was Britannian then Cornelia wouldn't complain as much but he wasn't. He was the last of the Kururugi line and was what the Elevens looked up to for inspiration.

"I trust Suzaku with my life," Euphemia put in. She looked happy now that Lelouch sided with her. "No one is as qualified as he is."

"There are several others that are most qualified!" Cornelia argued, outnumbered now that Lelouch had openly stated that he approved. She was fighting a losing battle.

"Then it is decided," Lelouch said, turning to leave.

"Lelouch, you can't let this be-"

"It is Euphie's decision, and Suzaku is every bit capable of protecting her," he hissed back, edging further towards the door. "Nothing more is to be said on the matter. Besides Cornelia there are other more pressing affairs I need to talk to you about."

Cornelia stiffened slightly at that, as she noticed the focused look within her brother's eyes. "Follow me, then," stated Cornelia as she beckoned Lelouch to join her somewhere more private. While she was silently seething in anger over the fact that her sister had declared that somebody not of Britannian birth would become an honorary knight, she would do her best to have Suzaku… reconsider his offer. It seemed however there were other matters to discuss. "So, what is it you wanted to speak of?" she asked.

"This," said Lelouch as he pulled something out of his pocket. "When the Black Knights came and rescued Tohdoh, I figured that the information had to have been leaked somehow, but the only two people who were in the room at the time when the final paper was signed were you and I. So after the jailbreak, I did some searching around the room and found this."

"What is it?" asked Cornelia as she inspected the black machine.

"An audio transmitter of some kind, but the problem is that there must have been a small explosive inside it to destroy it once they knew that we'd be on to them," explained Lelouch as he handed the device to Cornelia. While every word he was saying was utter bullcrap, he knew that he needed to divert any possible accusations away from himself.

"So you're saying that somebody was able to sneak into the building and plant something like this without alerting security," stated Cornelia.

"Not even. It could have been guards on routine patrol or even some cleaners, we shouldn't question just how many connections Zero has," said Lelouch as he leant against the wall.

"If it is one of my soldiers, once I get my hands on them I will show the rest of my men just what happens to traitors," declared Cornelia as she clenched her fist, crushing the small device within her grasp.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Lelouch, his voice raising ever so slightly in a way that made Cornelia jump the tiniest of margins. "March in front of all of your men and state that one of them is a traitor? Just how will that make the rest of your soldiers feel? Just how high will their morale be on the battlefield with the knowledge that the person protecting their rear may stab them in the back instead?"

Cornelia blinked a couple of times as she looked at Lelouch, his words having stunned her. For some reason her mind dawdled back to when they were children and they had shared a chess game with one another. His side of the board would always be set up so that all of his pieces protected one another, while her pieces would generally make way for the stronger pieces. She needed those men to have faith in their leader and so she couldn't show any weakness by revealing that there was a spy in their midst. Even if it would cost her a few good men, if she didn't keep her composure she could potentially lose all of them. Having only a single piece on a chessboard was never a good sign; likewise, being unable to trust none other than oneself was the most vulnerable of positions.

"I'm sorry I stepped out of line there," said Lelouch as he backed away, turning his attention downwards.

"No, thank you. I needed that," said Cornelia as she absorbed everything that Lelouch had said. "If you'll excuse me, I wish to spend some time alone to consider my next move."

Lelouch watched in silence as Cornelia walked down the hallway, the small device in her hand nearly completely forgotten as she made her way to her private chamber.

...

"God damnit!" the young Prince hissed under his breath. It wasn't that he secretly agreed with Cornelia, but he wanted Suzaku to himself. He needed Suzako on his side, he needed him to protect Nunnally and now it's too late. The Japanese boy was an exceptional fighter and a pilot of ace standards, he deserved more than Euphie. He needed someone that wouldn't question his decisions or suspect him of treason, and his childhood friend was just the man. After his military training were to be complete, he knew that he would be pestered into taking a Knight of Honour, and now it seemed that he would be left with Cornelia's dogs. They couldn't be trusted; she already suspected him, and while he had diverted her attention momentarily, there was still a chance she believed that he was a leak to Zero. Any men that Cornelia would suggest to him would likely be acting as a spy. She had already informed him that she would be having more people around him to ensure that he wasn't the leak and that he would behave himself.

He had to be careful now, CC would be expecting information on where to go from here and he had to do this before Cornelia sent her dogs to monitor what he would do twenty-four-seven. As he reached his door, he carefully placed one hand on the handle and opened it. His other hand reaching into his pocket to pick up his phone. When he entered the room, he paused and his mouth dropped a bit.

"Lelouch," CC calmly said as she took a bite into a cheesy pizza. Lelouch looked up and down at her body; she was lying on his bed wearing one of his shirts, though this time, a few of the buttons were undone enough so he could begin to see her breasts. "You took your time getting here."

"What are you doing here, CC?" Lelouch gasped as he turned around to shut the door and look away from the peculiar green-haired immortal. "How the hell did you get in?"

CC chuckled as Lelouch's face turned a shade of pink. "I was bored and infiltrating this place is easy enough."

"I'm being watched carefully at the moment and Cornelia is suspicious enough of me as it is, especially if she finds you in my bed again!" the Prince hissed as he turned back around. "Would you please put on some clothes?"

"I _am _wearing clothes," she said glumly, taking another bite of pizza. It seemed to be the only food that she ate which caused Lelouch to wonder if she ever would give up eating it. "Why are you so grumpy anyways?"

"Suzaku and Cornelia," he hissed. "Suzaku is to be Euphie's knight while Cornelia suspects me of being in contact with Zero."

"Wait till she finds out the truth." CC sniggered whilst Lelouch gave her a knowing look. "Guessing you have more use of me then?"

"Here's what you have to do."

...

She paced around the room furiously, her long purple hair flying behind her with every stride that she took. After filing away everything Lelouch had said for another day, her mind returned to the drastic matter at hand of Euphy deciding that an Eleven would be her knight. Standing in the corner of the room, Darlton and Guildford watched her with every intention to follow through with what she would order them to do next, no matter how messy it would become. It was within her right to kill the number, or at least that was how she felt. He wasn't capable of protecting her Euphemia. He himself would be a target to both terrorist organisations and Britannian nobles. Whilst this uproar about him piloting the Lancelot was still in hand, he, nor anyone else he associates himself with would be safe.

"We have to do something!" Cornelia growled. "I have to talk her out of this without Lelouch around. Maybe she would listen to me without him there; he encouraged her!"

"My Princess, it seems that your sister has made this decision on her own behalf. Try as you may, but I doubt she would change her mind, especially after the embarrassment of how she announced it," Guildford responded in a calm tone. "There must be a way to see if he is worthy to be a knight."

"I order you to be tough on the number. Test him as you may and I will inform Euphie whether or not he passes the test. If he passes, then he is fit enough to be a knight, although I will not have a liability look after her," the princess hissed. "Ensure he has no connections to terrorists. Do it as you please, but leave his face intact."

...

"Who cares if he's an honorary Britannian? He's still an Eleven!" The whispers ran through the crowd of watching nobles, rumors mixing in with the discontent.

"How did _he _win the princess's favor?"

"I suppose even princesses have needs." A laugh filled the air as Suzaku walked down the red carpet forming an aisle between the two crowds. Lelouch was at the front as his friend walked up the steps and kneeled before Euphemia. Suzaku wore white in honour of the momentous occasion, the same shade of white which was on the Princess' gown.

Where Euphemia was standing, was where Lelouch wanted to be. He wanted Suzaku for his own, if not for his exceptional skills, it was for Euphie's sanity. It was common knowledge that rumours about the opposite gender to that of the royal family member were often involved in sexual relationships with each other, although the knights' middle class background was often seen too low to marry into the royal family. Rumours of her having sexual relationships with an eleven would not only ruin her her popularity but her innocent nature, and how others perceived her. Lelouch knew that Suzaku wouldn't touch her, however, Cornelia's opinion was a different story.

Suzaku knelt nervously before Princess Euphemia. Her skin was almost as white as freshly laid snow, yet her cheeks had a pink blush spreading across them. Her face was truly delicate and to Suzaku, this was the prettiest he had ever seen her. He lowered his head in respect to her, awaiting to say his part in becoming her knight. This was the first step to changing Britannia for the better. If he could be accepted to be a Knight of Honour, then truly there was hope for the other numbers, and even hope for equality between the races.

He doubted, however, that a Britannian Knight would not go through the same initiation as him. He understood that Princess Cornelia did not approve of her sister's choice, yet was really sending her men after him such a wise thing to do? Sure, they only tested him, and they wanted to ensure their Princess that the right Knight was chosen, but it was almost as though they wanted him to fail. His biggest test of all was to show that he wasn't weak. Underneath the mask his body was presenting, he was under a lot of pain. Guildford and Darlton had beaten his lower body until it was bloody, and then they'd finished it off by dragging the blade of a knife up both his legs. It was his job not to respond to it, not to go to the hospital crying about the pain, and not to let a tear drip down his face. He was told to become a Knight of Honour, he had to put the pain behind him and put the Princess first. He felt both of their eyes watching him carefully. He knew they wanted him to fail right here and now; they wanted him to snap. But he had his honour, and he needed to show his respect in the Princess' choice in selecting him. One show of his pain and it was all over. He wouldn't be able to make Britannia a better place, he wouldn't be capable of protecting his friend, and he wouldn't be able to apologise to the Japanese people of area eleven.

All he had to do now was to remember his words and not mess up.

...

Milly Ashford sat on the sofa watching the Knighting ceremony from afar. Rushing around her were the other members of the student council who seemed to be running backwards and forwards to ensure that the party they were throwing for Suzaku was ready. Already there were members of the royal guard ensuring that security was tight, and that no one gained access to the clubhouse without an invitation from Milly, the other student council members, or the royal family. She placed her fingers between her soft blonde hair and let out a loud sigh. Today was the beginning of the rest of her life, it was today her social standing was to rise or flop depending on the outcomes and the relative success of this party. By now, she'd spent most of her time worrying about what was to happen, so much so that she no longer seemed to care. It was the part of her world that she left behind and it almost felt as though she was being thrusted back into it.

She laughed to herself while Rivalz shot her a concerned look from the other side of the room. It wasn't as if she was being thrown back into this life like Lelouch and Nunnally were; she still had the opportunity for freedom and to not have the press up her backside every time she made a public appearance. She knew it was almost impossible for Sayoko to take dear Nunnally to her favourite pond to feed the ducks without the blind Princess being pestered constantly. The majority of the times, the press was apparently not interested in her, but the dirt they could get out of Lelouch - out of all the emperors children was the one he had been monitoring the most frequently - who as an eligible bachelor they wanted to keep all tabs on him. Or so that was what she heard.

The blonde-haired beauty stood up. She wore a green, floor length gown which was carefully decorated with small crystals and gems. Her blonde hair was loosely curled, her lips a cherry red. She felt Rivalz stare upon her, which made her smile. He was a sweet guy and one of her closest friends. From outside the window, Milly noticed two limos pulling up, followed by a couple of ordinary jeeps with members of the escort for the royal siblings. First one to step out was Suzaku, his face white and sheepish. He placed his arm out and a dainty hand grabbed onto it. Princess Euphemia's hair was the first thing the Ashford girl saw, followed by how radiant and pretty the teenager looked. From the other limo, Lelouch and Princess Cornelia were leaving the vehicle. They both appeared to look more normal, although it was strange for Milly to see him in suit. A large smile was still present upon her face; this was going to be a party to remember and to go down in the Ashford academy history.

It was then when her smile dropped, her eyes watching as one more figure left the limo. "No, please. Not him."

...

Lloyd stood in the corner of the room, in one hand he held a champagne glass while the other was lifted slightly higher as he moved it to aid with his explanation of Knightmare physics to Nina. She appeared to be taking it all in with relevant ease, while Cecille looked on with a bored expression on her face. She enjoyed working with Knightmares, however, working with Lloyd was another story, especially when it came down to other people praising him for the work that he had done and for the ideas that he was currently developing. He always seemed a bit full of himself.

Currently, he was talking to the young girl with glasses and dark hair, who, from how passionately she was talking about Knightmare design, Cecille could see Lloyd in. She was just like the female version of him, although more reserved and kept to herself.

"Great," she whispered as she looked around the crowded hall, her eyes falling on Suzaku as she realised a smile. In her left hand, she held a glass of champagne, although the drink had never been her cup of tea. She saw Suzaku's glance upon her and quickly turned around to see Prince Lelouch behind her.

"Cecille, just the person I wanted to see," the Prince said with a smile upon his face. His head moved towards a door leading out of the beautifully decorated clubhouse at Ashford academy. He walked off towards that door and she followed shortly behind him. Carefully, she shut the door behind herself and stared at the young Prince. In his right arm, he was clutching documentation.

"I would like you to be in charge of this. It's documentation of what I want my personalised Knightmare frame to look and be like. I thought it would be better for Lloyd to not know about it, though, because I don't want it leaking back to my sister just yet."

"I understand," Cecille replied while grinning, she took the documents from the Prince. "I think I will go store these efficiently."

...

Kallen scowled down at the guest bellow her. Nothing annoyed her more than being in a room full of high-up Britannians, royal family members, and her fellow Britannia classmates, and not being able to gain her revenge. She hated being herself. She also hated the way the arrogant Prince kept looking at her - almost as though he was a lost puppy dog. Perhaps her ex-classmate had a crush on her. If he did, then she could get close and exterminate him before he became like the rest of his family and destroy everything she knew and loved.

Once again, she felt his eyes looking up at her. She moved her hands up to her mouth as she pretended to do a sickly cough. She sighed, knowing that she had to go down there and support the party for Suzaku. She didn't know if it was good or bad that the Japanese boy was made a Knight of Honour, especially as he was one of the main suspects of killing Clovis before Zero came along. Now Zero was a man who Kallen could easily fall for. She hated how he didn't trust her enough to show of his face. She hated attempting to picture what he would look like without that mask on. The red-haired rebel jumped slightly as she felt a hand move onto her waist and another one on her hand.

"Care to have this dance, Miss Stadtfeld?" Prince Lelouch asked. A red blush crept across her face as she mentally swore that she was right. Her eyes looked into his as she parted her lips slightly. "You have no say in the matter. Dance with me."

Again she sighed, though perhaps him having a crush on her wasn't so bad. She knew he'd became one of the most eligible bachelors in area eleven since being returned back to the throne. Slowly he led her down the stairs and onto the floor where a number of people were currently dancing. His hands moved onto her hips as he began to lead her in a slow dance. She felt the glare of almost every girl in the room except his sisters', Milly, Nina and the scientists assistant.

As the next song began to play - a slow song at that - Kallen contemplated with the idea of pulling out her purse knife and slicing Lelouch's throat where he was. Given the reaction and shock time, there was also a chance that she could make a break for Cornelia before anybody could properly react. "There's a reason why I brought you down here, Kallen," said Lelouch, breaking the red-haired girl's train of thought. "I want you to promise me that before I say anything else, you will do your best not to react."

Kallen swallowed nervously at that. Was Lelouch really going to ask her out on a date, in front of all these people? She could imagine the tabloids, the internal investigations, and the sudden boost in popularity. What would she say? What would she do? Slowly she nodded her head and tried to brace herself for whatever was to come next.

"Q-1, I need you to relay a message for me," said Lelouch.

Looking back on it she could have potentially braced herself for anything but that.

...

**For those who are interested, we are a group of collaborative writers who combine our efforts to bring you stories such as this one. We're an open group, meaning that anyone can apply to join. Feel free to check out our forums, our Facebook page, and perhaps apply to join the group, via the link on our profile. It's a great opportunity for those who would like to better their own writing abilities and exchange skills of the trade with fellow authors, or to simply be more a part of a writing community.**

**Hope you enjoyed. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 - Hatching Plans**

**Disclaimer: Team Dragon Star does not own Code Geass.**

**This chapter was brought to you by Gohan-to-the-Max, Lord Helen and Razamataz22.**

…

Kallen paused as she let those few words settle in. Thanks to the music playing, only she had been able to hear what Lelouch had said but she must have misheard. He must have said 'queen' or 'quiche' or anything. Just not that.

The look in his eyes, however, told otherwise. Lelouch knew exactly what he had just said and he knew just who he was talking to.

Around them a few whispers were starting to spread as a handful of people noticed the shocked expression that covered Kallen's face. While many thought nothing of it to start off with they couldn't help but hear what others were saying and how one jealous girl 'apparently' overheard Lelouch ask Kallen out on a date.

This was all going on behind the backs of the two individuals who had seemingly gathered the attention of everybody in the hall. "Can… can we talk about this somewhere more private?" asked Kallen, slipping into her weak persona. Lelouch merely nodded in response as he felt Kallen's fingers grip around his wrist and start pulling him out of the crowd, many of the students parting at the sight of them.

From her position a little ways away, Cornelia rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger whilst groaning ever so slightly, thinking that sometimes Lelouch simply wanted to push her over the edge. Perhaps she needed a vacation, somewhere far away and as punishment Lelouch could deal with this crap on a day to day basis for a while. There had to be a country nearby that she could conquer, that'd be a good way to spend a few weeks off.

...

Closing the door, Kallen looked down the empty hallways to make sure that the coast was clear before turning her undivided attention onto Lelouch. Before he could say anything, she had grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him into the opposing wall. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you!" stated Kallen through grinding teeth, doing her best not to shout out her rage in fear of somebody listening in.

"Shinjuku," said Lelouch calmly without the slightest trace of fear in his eyes.

"What?" replied Kallen as her grip loosened a bit.

"I was in Shinjuku that day," stated Lelouch drawing back on a conversation that they had had weeks earlier. "Like yourself though, I couldn't afford to go blowing my cover over something, especially with the background I have."

"Are you… are you Zero?" asked Kallen completely taken aback.

"I'm Lelouch," said the boy in question, which caught Kallen off guard. "Prince of a disgraceful nation and ally of the Black Knights."

Kallen's grip became completely loose as her hands dropped away from Lelouch's blazer. Her gaze dropped downwards as she tried to register everything that was going on. Not only was one of her schoolmates a prince but he was fighting alongside her on the battlefront, even if she never saw him. What part did he play in all of this? Just why had Zero never made it clear that Lelouch was a part of their group? Or was this simply all a ruse and the person in front of her truly the man behind the mask?

Then again, did it matter?

Focusing her eyes, Kallen concluded that Lelouch was a member of the Black Knights and until she discovered anything new, that was all he was. Nothing more, nothing less. "Alright then, so what now?" she asked.

"I don't know, I can only leak so much information before I start getting interrogated," said Lelouch as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm going to have to go underground for a while as the paparazzi won't get off my back until they've had their fair share of photos, not to mention I have to go through Knightmare and physical training with some of the strictest people imaginable. Too much suspicion was raised when I managed to get the information out about the execution of Tohdoh and I only barely managed to get out of that one without a trip to the dungeon."

"I understand where you're coming from," said Kallen knowing what it was like to keep these sort of things hidden away. She could only imagine though how many precautionary steps Lelouch would have to make in order to get away. "The question is, what do you want me to do? You wouldn't have risked your cover just to tell me we're on the same side otherwise you would have done it while you were still just a student."

"I can only assume that everybody out in the foyer believes that I've asked you out on a date," said Lelouch knowing how troublesome this plan was. "That's what's going to happen though, we're going to go on a date."

Kallen's mouth slowly opened not having any idea how to respond before her fist clenched threateningly. "What the hell is that going to do?" she almost yelled, once again doing her best to keep her voice down in the case that people were listening through the door.

It was then that a dangerous gleam entered Lelouch's eyes and Kallen couldn't help but feel as if this was a well thought out plan in the making.

"We're going to stage a kidnapping."

...

Shirley stood there, frozen as though she was a ice cube trapped within a tray. The colour from her cheeks drained, her breath short and rapid and it felt as though her insides had just left her body. It was almost as though she was torn into two, was she happy that her friend was finally going on a date? Or was she heartbroken because the boy she loved had feelings for someone else? It felt to her as if hours had passed and Lulu was still in there with the sickly girl.

Of course her mind was only playing tricks with her; she was becoming too absorbed in the rumours that were spreading amongst the other people in the hall. Lulu had never shown interest in anything as simple as a date, chances were that over the course of the past few weeks nothing had changed. Especially if what she thought about him was true, it would be difficult for him to fit dating into his busy double life. If Lulu was Zero, then it meant that he wouldn't have the time to date because of all the activities the masked man has been getting into as of late. Nervously, she twisted her hair around her fingers. Her head felt heavy as she wandered out of the main ballroom and into a silent corridor. Lelouch was spending a rather long time to just be talking to Kallen and the thought of him being with her made her feel sick. She forced herself to gasp for air, her heart beginning to beat at a slower pace... it should have been her with him. It was then when the ginger haired girl slumped to the floor unconscious.

Cornelia was also becoming concerned but for different reasons. She found the rumours that the rabble had been whispering simply preposterous. For starters the arrangements had already been set in motion for Lelouch to wed the Prime Minister of Australia's daughter under orders from the emperor himself. It was only a matter of time before the world would be aware of the emperor's plans, they were just waiting for him to finish his military training.

Looking at it from another perspective however she could see where such a thing could go on two levels. For starters, this would be a direct slap in the face of their father, something which would infuriate the emperor of the nation no doubt but would also give Lelouch a grand sense of satisfaction. It could also be a tactic to infuriate the Australians and force them to make a move out of their homeland and onto their soil. Very few could stand to see their honour stamped upon and do little about it and while the Australian defensive force was one of the greatest in the world, their offence had yet to be discovered.

Lelouch could set a very dangerous game in motion, yet somehow she felt like he knew exactly what he was doing. Shaking her head, she forced herself to abandon the idea. There was no possible way that her younger brother would ever think about going on a date of all things. Not with his duties to the kingdom and his duties to protect their darling Nunnally.

By now her younger brother must have been in there longer than twenty minutes, she wished he would come out before the rumours get more and more ridiculous. Some of his fellow students were saying things that made her blood boil, her younger brother wasn't a perverted sex addict, they had just misunderstood. Or was she trying to protect his innocence? What if Lelouch was just a typical, hormone filled teenage boy? What if he was truly his father's son and he was making love to the sole heiress of a noble family? Again she shook her head; she needed to teach her brother a few lessons on respecting the opposite sex.

...

Prince Lelouch left the room with his bow tie slung over his shoulder and a few of his top buttons undone. A smirk was on his face as he turned to face Kallen whose hair was a little bit scuffled up; he stretched out his arm to her as she grabbed onto it. She hated this plan but what she hated more was the illusion that Lelouch wanted to create to divert any suspicions of his plan. He was risking it all to meet Zero therefore he had to be thorough.

"Smile," Lelouch hissed to her under his breath as they reached the door leading into the main ballroom. "Look like you've just had the time of your life."

A red blush snuck onto her face as she gripped his arm tighter, she hated playing this weak girl who 'just got lucky' with a prince of Britannia. She wished she killed him while she had the chance but if he knew and worked for Zero, then she couldn't get rid of a valuable asset. At least not until his uses wore out. It only took a few seconds for the ballroom to go silent as the two re-entered and about ten seconds after that for thousands of questions to be yelled towards the duo. Flashes of camera's began to go off as Lelouch gripped her tighter, pulled her into his chest and whispered, "Sorry."

Her lips met Lelouch's and all she could think about was Zero and how much she wanted to end this Prince's life. She had a semi normal life (in her own opinion at least) and now she had to be careful. While they kissed him, she cursed at him and thought of thirty ways she could end his existence, each more painful than the last.

Despite this being Lelouch's first kiss, his thoughts were elsewhere as his eye scoured the room before his gaze fell upon his sisters. With the entire gathering watching his every move at that moment he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction from the look upon Cornelia's face. Even if everything else failed miserably, it would still be worth it as he believed that he would never see her jaw hanging so low ever again.

...

**For those who are interested, we are a group of collaborative writers who combine our efforts to bring you stories such as this one. We're an open group, meaning that anyone can apply to join. Feel free to check out our forums, our Facebook page, and perhaps apply to join the group via the link on our profile. It's a great opportunity for those who would like to better their own writing abilities and exchange skills of the trade with fellow authors, or to simply be more a part of a writing community.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 - Into the Deep End**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Code Geass.**

**This chapter was brought to you by Razamataz22.**

...

When she had woken up this morning and headed to school to keep her secret identity in check, never could Kallen have imagined some of the things that would have occurred that day. Finding herself in a royal limousine surrounded by several of the most important people in the world was one of them.

Fidgeting ever so slightly, Kallen kept her persona in check in order to make sure she did her best not to stand out, a task made overly difficult by the fact that Cornelia seemed hell bent on making Kallen burst into flames from glaring alone. Through the orders of the oldest member of royalty that had been attending, Cornelia had declared that Lelouch would ride separately which left only herself, Nunnally and Euphemia there to have some 'quality time' getting to know Lelouch's red haired love interest.

"Kallen-san, how long have you and nii-san had feelings for each other?" asked Nunnally, her lack of sight meaning that she couldn't see the tension in the air.

Kallen breathed in as she remembered the backstory that she and Lelouch had constructed while they had been out of view and made each others clothes look as if the two of them had done something inappropriate. "I guess when we started seeing more of each other when I was inducted into the student council, that is," she said meekly doing her best to avoid eye contact.

"There there," said Euphemia in a comforting tone as she did her best to make Kallen open up a little more. "You don't have to be so timid, we won't bite."

Or at least she and Nunnally wouldn't, Cornelia on the other hand...

"So what plans do you have with my brother for the future?" she demanded, showing that she could be very protective of something she cared about when she wanted to.

"I… I can't say we've thought that far ahead," said Kallen as a small tint of crimson crossed her cheeks, more from anger than anything else. Just the thought of what Cornelia was implying wanted to make her throttle her 'love interest' with everything she had. Perhaps crushing him with the Guren would be a suitable punishment.

"Teenagers," scoffed Cornelia as she turned her head to the side to be able to look out the window. Could her brother truly be submitting to carnal urges? Needless to say she and Lelouch would be having a good one on one conversation when they got back.

She knew that their father would disapprove of this as would most of the royal family. There would be others, though, who would be glad of such a thing, knowing then that their chances of the throne would be back to where they were before Lelouch had been discovered alive and well. Royalty were given no real choice in who they wed, they were merely pawns to be used by the Emperor in an attempt to increase the country's strength. If what she had heard was true, her eldest brother was already in talks with China about the potential marriage between him and the young empress in a bid to cease the bloodshed between two of the three great military powers. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep an eye on the merger a little more closely.

Shaking her head and getting her thoughts back on track, Cornelia turned her attention back to Kallen, who was being talked to by Euphie, the pink haired princess wanting to know every inch and detail about Lelouch that she herself didn't know about. Being the eldest around, provided that Schneizel didn't decide to pop on out of the blue like he occasionally did, meant that she was the one who had to look out for not just Lelouch but Kallen as well. Undoubtedly the media had already gotten hold of news that Lelouch had kissed the timid girl and within the hour the entire world would most likely know.

This would end up getting the girl into a lot of trouble, no matter what way she looked at it Cornelia could not see this ending well. Such a timid girl would not just end up being the target of paparazzi and harassed by those who wanted her to endorse their labels, but also terrorist cells who wanted to use Kallen as a hostage to get back against the Britannian Royal Family.

Cornelia was not blind to the dangers that lurked within the streets of Area Eleven and how the most starving of dogs could truly fight the strongest. Those who had suffered through the wars that she helped wage would find this as an opportunity, one last dying gasp to exact some manner of revenge for those they had lost. This, of course, was the most bleakest of possibilities but sadly it was also the most likely. As a result of Lelouch's foolish actions, he had put this girl at risk.

She just hoped that he knew just what he had started.

…

Looking at his cellphone, Lelouch scrolled through the internet and looked at the response his actions had created. Suddenly it seemed as if both Tohdoh's escape seemed like old news and the only other thing that people seemed interested in was Euphemia decreeing that Suzaku would be her Knight of Honor.

Reading the articles that didn't correspond to him, Lelouch knew that at some stage Cornelia was going to throw the Knight of Honor book in his face. Or worse yet she would choose one for him with the intent of having them watch him like a hawk and report his every move. Nunnally would soon be facing the same thing but he figured that that wouldn't come for some time as Cornelia would hopefully have her full attention on him for the time being.

While this plan was all well and good for the time being he needed to get in contact with CC sometime soon. If they couldn't arrange a meeting with 'Zero' then he'd have to figure out some other way to go about creating a union. For the moment it seemed as if the Black Knights and the Britannian Army weren't exactly on bad terms with one another, especially not after the incident down at the port. They were still enemies by any means and would remain so for the foreseeable future but hopefully with the incoming threat in the form of the former chief cabinet secretary of Japan, Atsushi Sawasaki (who by the sounds of it was bringing a good portion of the Chinese Federation army with him, he would be able to form some kind of truce with them. The only reason he knew of this oncoming attack was because they had gotten in contact with Zero, wanting to know if the Black Knights would aid them in bringing 'peace' back to Japan.

What seemed funny was that the only reason they contacted the Black Knights was that they didn't want to face Lelouch as well as Cornelia, stating that the morale of the enemy troops would be too high with so many royals on the battlefield and that Zero would even the odds. Ironic really that no matter what happened in those two scenarios Lelouch played a big role and in neither would the oncoming threat come out victorious.

The problem though was that he needed both the Britannian Army and the Black Knights to fight side by side without shooting each other in the back, show that they were both needed to help defend the country. The victory, which he couldn't see happening even in the worst case scenario, wasn't what was necessary. So long as the Black Knights participated in the fighting so that it would announce their stance in the world, showing everybody that the Black Knights weren't enemies of a single faction. Depending on how the battle was fought and won would decree just how much publicity was created indicating that the two rival factions fought alongside one another for the same cause.

While good in theory, this would take a master tactician to make work.

If everything went according to plan however, he would make it work.

...

Kallen would never truly classified herself as a girly girl, clothes and makeup never truly having any real meaning in a world filled with war and hatred. Had the circumstances of her childhood have been different then perhaps she too would have been different in her likes and dislikes. One day, when all the fighting came to a stop, she would be faced with a world that would be completely foreign to her. At least now however she was getting her first glimpse at it.

"Oh this would look nice on you," said Euphemia as she selected a dress from her wardrobe, holding it up for Kallen to see.

Shaking her head in rejection, the garment was replaced on the rack as Euphemia went searching for another outfit that Kallen could wear for the evening's dinner. While the non-member of royalty had thought she would be brought in for an interrogation and nothing more, it hadn't happened as of yet so she expected it to undoubtedly happen while she shared a meal with princesses and her supposed 'boyfriend.'

While she was used to playing the timid role in school (although she admitted that she broke character from time to time) she was unsure how to play the role of a girlfriend. Kallen couldn't admit that she had ever held romantic feelings for anybody and as a result she was in completely foreign territory.

The sound of the door opening got both her and Euphemia's attention as Cornelia poked her head in. "Has Lelouch come by here?" she asked with a slight pant in her voice.

"Can't say we have seen him," responded Euphie. "Not since we first got back at least."

"Is something wrong your majesty?" asked Kallen, only really adding the 'majesty' part because she was nervous.

"Lelouch seems to have gone into hiding, don't worry though, I'll find him," said Cornelia with an air of confidence before she left, closing the door behind her.

Kallen for one couldn't really blame Lelouch for going into hiding for the time being. While she knew that she would be asked a truck load of questions within the upcoming hours, Lelouch would have to live under the same roof as somebody who would force every answer out of him, one way or another.

However, for what he had put her through and would continue to put her through, he deserved every bit of it.

...

What one could have imagined would have been quite a talkative moment around the dinner table was mostly spent in silence, the only sound being the cutlery clinging off of the plates and the sound of chewing seemingly echoing through the hall. Cornelia's focused eyes hadn't left Kallen the entire evening, even when her sisters talked to her she hadn't averted her gaze for more than a second. Euphemia could feel the tension in the room and opted to remain silent for the time being not wanting to be the start of something she could potentially regret later on. Lelouch seemed to however not be phased by this in the slightest as he helped Nunnally with her dinner, wiping his younger sisters cheek whenever something didn't quite go according to plan.

Kallen's eyes darted across the table at her supposed 'boyfriend' and while Euphemia and Cornelia imagined that the red haired girl was picturing the perfect lifestyle, Kallen was in fact thinking of the past as opposed to the future. More specifically, the day that she and Lelouch unknowingly crossed paths with one another.

While the Shinjuku event seemed like such a long time ago it was important in that it was the first victory over Britannia that anybody had gotten in such a long time. It was the first stepping stone into the revolution that was the Black Knights and just like herself Lelouch too had played a part. What part however she was still trying to figure out.

Having been part of the student council at school she had learned from Shirley and Milly that whenever Lelouch and Rivalz vanished for a while it was because they had gone gambling on chess games. For a teenager to play competitive chess for a substantial amount of money meant that he had to have a worthwhile head on his shoulders otherwise he'd just be funding the community he supposedly hated.

Kallen still hadn't dismissed the thought that Lelouch was indeed to face behind the mask. She had no proof to back up her claim but that day when Lelouch had asked her to forget about Shinjuku kept niggling away at the back of her mind. It was a mistake on his part and she had to admit that he had done his best to negate the situation temporarily but after that there had been nothing, no contact made between the two of them outside of school which only made it more suspicious. With the two of them being part of the student council there would have been plenty of time for them to plan and plot their next move but he had just remained silent on the matter.

Another thing which also led her to believe that Lelouch was Zero was on the day that Cornelia and Euphemia had come to the school and she had desperately tried to call the leader of the Black Knights to tell him the news. No matter how hard she tried to get in contact with Zero no connection had been made until much later when the news was more or less public. Kallen may have been drawing at straws but it was something she would keep in mind in helping her discover just who Zero was. The relationship she had with Lelouch may have been faux but that by no means gave her a reason not to use the time she would be spending with him to do a bit of research of her own.

"Is the food not to your liking?" asked Euphemia from nearby, noticing that Kallen hadn't touched her meal for the better part of a minute.

"Sorry, I was just lost in thought," said Kallen apologetically as she stabbed some vegetables with her fork before lifting them to her mouth. It wasn't a lie persay but she knew that the three princesses at the table would believe that her train of thought was on a completely different line to the one she had been on. Returning to her meal, Kallen silently vowed that she would discover just what part Lelouch played in the Black Knights and just what the prince of Britannia had planned for Area Eleven.

...

Lelouch scrolled through the various links he had up on his internet browser as he looked upon how the world had reacted to his actions. The dinner he had shared with Kallen and his sisters had gone as well as it could had and they made sure to make their 'plans' for the following day. Afterwards Kallen had been sent home with a private escort of which Euphemia had gone along for the ride, the pink haired princess seemingly taking a liking to Lelouch's girlfriend.

A small smirk crossed Lelouch's face as he stumbled upon a website that had somehow managed to get a picture of the shocked face that Cornelia had shown when he and Kallen had kissed. A simple copy and paste ensured that that image would soon be distributed around the building next time she threatened to put him through another round of vigorous training.

The ringing of his phone snapped him back to the reality of the situation and as he noticed the name flashing upon the blue background he answered the device and placed it to his ear.

'_You sure know how to cause a scene, don't you?'_ scolded CC on the other end of the line. _'Knowing you however means that this wasn't some pubescent act of rebellion.'_

"CC, I'm going to need your help to organise something tomorrow," said Lelouch before he was cut off preventing him from continuing further.

_'Of course you do,' _replied CC. '_Before you go into detail however explain to me why you decided to get Kallen involved outside of the Black Knights. I can't see any real reason at the moment why you would do something like this but I have no doubt that the answer will simply astound me.'_

The sarcasm leaking out of CC's voice was refreshing for the young prince who was starting to get sick of the tone that society now spoke to him in. "I needed to show Britannia that the Black Knights aren't something they should fear unless they provoke us," explained Lelouch. "I'm going to create a bridge directly between Cornelia and Zero by being the middle man."

'_I'm just dying for you to tell me how you plan on doing this,' _said CC making Lelouch smile. After so much time without the green haired witch he was really starting to miss her.

At least just a little.

...

**Hope you enjoyed.**


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